The Mystery of Pharaoh's Beloved (English)
by MarBere123
Summary: History tells that the Nameless Pharaoh loved only a woman called Manet; however, who was Manet, what she looked like and where she came from remain a mystery even today. Thanks to a disappointment and a strange cat, Mana will find herself in the midst of the mystery and the truth that got lost over the years. (Vaseshipping)
1. ARC I: PARADOXICAL BONDS PRELUDE

**Hey, it's me again! I hope you enjoy this and if there's some error, please tell me, okay?**

**All your critics and comments are welcome.**

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

"It was fun to play with you, but I must come back," said the girl smiling happily.

Her strange clothes were full of dust and sand for having been kneeling.

**_«You are not ready yet.» _**

The boy in front of her, dressed in ostentatious clothes and jewelry, ducked his head and looked away. It had certainly been a lot of fun for him too, he rarely enjoyed his life as he had done with this girl.

"Do you really have to go? Maybe you can live here. I can ask—" She interrupted him with a denial.

"My parents must be worried, my siblings too. Besides, I already miss them, you know?"

**_«You are too young to understand your role in this world. Both are.»_**

"I see..." she smiled at him. "Will you come again? Will we play again?"

"I don't know, I came here without knowing how. So I don't know when, or if I can come back."

"Oh..."

**_«But I will give you the option to do it. The option to decide when you are of the necessary age.»_**

"But I will certainly do it! I promise! Is it alright?"

He looked up when she took his hand in hers. An energetic expression on her face was enough for him to smile too.

"Yes!"

And with that, the girl said goodbye by waving one of her hands to get away where she came from.

**_«However, until that day arrives, you will forget everything you have experienced today.» _**

Between bushes and trees, or simply in the distance, she disappeared as if she had never been there.

"Prince!" he listened behind his back. The boy turned on his heels to face the caller. "I worried when I heard voices, has anyone entered the palace?"

He denied

"No, I was alone. Sure was your imagination, Mahad."

The young man of about twelve years nodded.

"Pharaoh is looking for you, my Prince, I will take you to where he is."

He nodded quickly.

"You know, Mahad?" the young man looked at him. "I like green eyes."

Mahad frowned between amused and confused by the comment.

"Why is that, my Prince?"

The so-called Prince blinked a few times confused.

**_«Until that day comes, the two of you will continue with your lives as if you had never met.» _**

"Who knows..."


	2. I

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

_«...Then, in order to protect his kingdom and everything he loved, the Nameless Pharaoh decided to...»_

_«...Without reason or warning, the supposedly first wife of the Pharaoh, as well as queen, Manet, who had to take office, disappeared without a trace after the death of...»_

_«...Many scholars and historians consider the possibility of a betrayal, as well as an alliance with the Thief King; however, the only thing they are sure of is that Manet was not a normal woman...»_

Mana closed the tenth book she had opened and expressed her disgust with a growl.

"This is impossible!" she exclaimed regardless of the echo that caused the loneliness of her private library.

She had spent most of the morning searching, finding and reading books about the story of the Nameless Pharaoh and how his queen Manet played an important role in decision making as well as in the Pharaoh's private life. However, apart from what was already known, there wasn't much to highlight.

She was about to tear her hair.

"What's impossible?" asked a voice after knocking the door a few times.

Mana laid her back on the desk chair she was in and using her legs as an impulse made the seat axis rotate so that she could see her step-brother, who had entered.

Dressed in a suit, but with a loose tie, there was Marik Ishtar, her older brother.

"This! My assignment for college!" she exclaimed. "Everything about Manet is almost as unknown as the name of the Nameless Pharaoh!"

Marik laughed and approached to take a look at the books Mana had taken out. Unlike her, Marik had already graduated and inherited all his parents' business even before she was of age. He kept them, so to speak, and she wanted to be of help as soon as she could.

Mana had never been known for being a studious girl. In fact, she was one of those who skipped classes and left homework for the last day; however, she no longer wanted to be a burden.

"Is your assignment about the Nameless Pharaoh?" her brother wanted to know.

She denied.

"Of course not! It's about the importance of women in Egyptian culture. They had an ideology very different from the rest of the world. Women were allowed to study and have knowledge, animals were cared for inside the houses. Did you know that they preferred to surrender before hurting a cat?"

Marik laughed a little and put the book back on the table.

"So why don't you do a research of Hatshepsut Nefertiti, or Cleopatra? There must be a lot more information about them, right?"

"Exactly and that, my dear brother, is what would make my work somewhat mediocre."

"But there isn't much more about Manet than guesses and rumors," Marik replied. "Like the myth that tells that she was a witch and that the Pharaoh fell in love with her because of a potion."

Mana sighed and jumped up from her chair. She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head.

"A myth is a myth, brother. I am looking for the truth. I'm sure that behind every great man, there is a great woman —or another man, it depends I think. Anyway, I don't believe that she has simply betrayed the Pharaoh, maybe she also loved him, only that there is no evidence or records who she really was to verify. "

Marik let out a long, tired sigh before putting his hands on Mana's shoulders.

Tilting her head, Mana asked what was happening.

"You are not going to stop, are you?" she denied and, although Mana briefly noticed the concern in his gaze, he smiled. "Well, I like that about you. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask for it, but don't try too hard, okay? You don't have to grow up so fast."

Mana shook the strong beating of her heart with a nod.

"If I want to help you, I must do it," Mana brought her hands to Marik's tie and began to knot it. She wasn't very good at it, but her mother had taught her when she was little. "You have to go to work, right?"

"Oh, it's true!" Marik laughed. "I almost forgot. Talking with you is always entertaining."

"I know," Mana smiled when her brother headed for the library door.

However, a few seconds later Marik returned.

"I forgot," he announced, looking out. "You have to be here before 8pm with an elegant outfit."

Mana frowned confused.

"Elegant? Why?"

"Ishizu is coming."

Almost completely forgetting her obligations and how much it bothered her to wear too ostentatious clothes, Mana almost jumped on the table when she heard her step-sister's name.

"Ishizu is coming?" she repeated excited and Marik nodded. "Really? Why? Wasn't she on one of those trips with Kaiba Corp.?"

Marik laughed and nodded again.

"That's right, but apparently she has an important announcement to make."

"An announcement? She? Do you know about what?" all her emotion turned into curiosity.

Ishizu was that kind of beautiful, independent and successful older sister who always ended up traveling the world long before her entire family. She had a perfect job at KC and a stable, although secret relationship with the CEO. When theirs parents died, she rejected the inheritance so that everything was left to Marik and Mana; not because she wanted to get rid of her responsibilities in the company, but because she didn't need it.

Marik shrugged.

"I have no idea, but she said we had to be both present and in our best clothes. Apparently Seto Kaiba is coming too."

If Mana had been drinking something at that time, she would have already spit it out on her brother's perfect suit.

"Seto Kaiba?! The CEO?!"

They had already seen him a couple of times in important meetings, but those were formal dinners at his house, or at fancy restaurants... Mana was probably thinking more than she should, but she certainly had to talk to Ishizu about all that.

"Uh-huh..." Marik nodded. "So don't get too entertained with that Yūgi boy and come back soon, understand?"

Mana laughed.

"You say it as if Yūgi were a suitor, or something like that," she rolled her eyes. "He is a friend and project partner."

"I only say what I see," Marik replied. "Serenity will also come to dinner today."

Mana's smile didn't disappear, but it did wobble. Serenity? In an almost family reunion?

Serenity was the daughter of an important bureaucrat who had attended the same school as Marik. Mana knew that the two of them had their story and that they still coincided in business meetings, or alumni parties, but she didn't know they met more apart from those formalities.

"I also have an announcement to make," and with that, Mana stopped being excited for dinner that night.

She said goodbye once again to her brother, who was probably already late for work, and collapsed on the comfortable leather chair.

Marik and Ishizu were her stepbrother and stepsister, both of them were children of the couple who had adopted her years ago when she was just in elementary school.

At the beginning it was weird and uncomfortable, she wasn't used to sharing a room with another girl, or having dinner with more people than her and her host family, but over time she began to love them as if they were really related with blood.

In Marik's case, much more than that.

He had protected and cared for her. Until now he did. He comforted her when their parents died, promised that they would always be together when she thought social services would take her to another house and was with her at all times even when he was also sad and decayed. He was, somehow, her hero.

She didn't hate Serenity, but she didn't want her to take him away either.

With her fists clenched, she sighed to calm down and decided to take her coat to go for a walk. She had to be at Yūgi's house to finish the assignment before 7.

When she went out the front door, a movement caught her attention and then heard a meow.

Mana smiled. Stray cats in that area were scarce. Curious, she approached.

It was a female adult and black cat with bright green eyes.

"Meow~" the little cat approached too.

"What are you doing here? Are you alone?" the cat responded by tilting her head and Mana laughed at herself. "Sorry, I bet you don't even understand what I'm saying."

The cat meowed again and Mana came up with an idea. She hadn't had a pet for a long time, maybe if she talked to Marik...

"That's it!" she looked for something in her bag that could be helpful and found a small bell.

Why did she have one? Well, it was that, or a whistle. She took a ribbon she usually used to tie her hair and tied it around the cat's neck.

Then she lifted the cat in her arms and returned inside the house. She went up to her room and left the cat on the bed, then she opened the window. If she was a stray cat, she would go back to the streets, but it was enough for Mana if the cat knew that she could return at any moment.

With that ready, Mana came out again.

* * *

"Earth to Mana! Hello!" Yūgi hit her head with his knuckles as if it were a door when she finally reacted.

"Auch! What's wrong with you?!" she asked with a frown.

Notebooks and books were scattered on the floor of the room. Yūgi's grandfather had brought two cups of tea a couple of hours ago, but none had even taken a sip.

"You're distracted, did something happen to you before coming here?" her tricolor-haired friend expressed his concern through his gaze.

Mana remembered what Marik had said.

"Oh, my goodness! What time is it?" she asked jumping up.

Yūgi looked at her with a frown before taking out his mobile phone.

"A quarter to 8, why?" he wanted to know.

Mana started to put her things in her bag when she heard the answer.

"I can't believe it's so late, they're going to kill me," she ignored her friend's question and put on her coat again. "Sorry, Yūgs, I must come back."

Putting her hands together in front of her face, Mana apologized to Yūgi. He just sighed.

"Okay, don't worry, we still have time," he said, putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "Do you want me to accompany you?"

Mana denied with a smile.

"That would only make things worse, but thanks."

She ran away saying goodbye to Yūgi's grandfather with one hand and crossed the main street. It was windy due to autumn, but it was nothing that a good coat couldn't avoid.

It usually didn't take long to go from Yūgi's house to hers, it was a fifteen-minute walk and, if she ran, she could arrive in less than ten, which gave her time for a quick shower.

However, she didn't expect to collide with someone by turning in one of the corners.

"Be careful!"

"I'm so sorry," she apologized to the stranger bowing.

She heard the stranger sigh.

"Forget it."

When the boy passed her, Mana only had time to observe his thin back and somewhat striking hair before running again.

She didn't know that Yūgi's style was fashionable, maybe it had appeared in a magazine and she hadn't noticed.

Anyway, when she got home, she soon noticed that the small meeting was actually a big meeting.

As usual at corporate events, Mana did not know most of the guests other than her siblings, but this time she saw more people known than she supposed there were at first.

Apart from Ishizu, Marik, Seto Kaiba and Serenity; there were some uncles she had seen years ago, also Serenity's brother as well as their parents, there was a boy whom Mana recognized as Seto's younger brother and a few others. Even the paternal grandparents of Ishizu and Marik!

What was happening?

She quickly ran to her room and bathed as quickly as she had ever done before dressing in a cute and formal dress that Ishizu had given her on her last birthday.

Jewelry, makeup, etc... Mana wasn't fascinated by all that, but she still had to do it even if it was simple to get down and not embarrass Ishizu, who was the center of the reunion that night.

Then she came down again just as they started serving the food. She didn't even notice the absence of the cat she had taken in before.

She greeted her siblings with a hug and a kiss on the cheek before taking a seat on one of the small sofas when Ishizu and Seto Kaiba both stood with cups in their hands.

"Now that we are all here," Ishizu smiled at Mana and she felt slightly embarrassed. "Seto and I have an important announcement to make..." blah blah blah —It was all Mana could hear, although from the moved glances of those present, it seemed that it was really something nice, which she understood when Ishizu raised her left hand and wore the beautiful ring on her ring finger. Again, Mana almost spits her drink.

"...For that and many other reasons, we have decided to accelerate the engagement and get married by the end of this year," she smiled.

'For that'?. Mana blinked, had she missed something?

Seconds after many congratulations and applause, Marik also stood up with Serenity resting on his arm.

"Congratulations sister for your pregnancy," he said with a smile. Oh, Mana already understood everything... Her sister was pregnant, that was nice... "I don't know if it's the right time for this, but I have to break our mutual agreement of non-aggression," some guests laughed when Ishizu pushed him as a joke. "Well, as you will know, both my family and Serenity's companies have been doing very well in terms of business, so we kept this quiet so as not to generate false rumors... So, with you and God as witnesses, we have decided to formalize our relationship and make it public enough for this..."

Mana frowned, hadn't he been worried a few weeks ago about the state of the company? She was struggling because she thought he was going to need her help soon! That he already needed her!

Marik knelt in front of Serenity, who didn't seem very aware of what was happening while seeking support in her brother with a look of: "did you know?"

Confused, like all the guests, Mana leaned forward a little to see her brother with her hands on a little red velvet box. All her movements stopped at that moment.

"Serenity Wheeler, you would grant me the honor..."

Mana didn't want to listen anymore when she hurried out of the room. She climbed the stairs to her room and locked herself when she heard the applause and congratulations of all the guests.

She didn't want to go back down. She didn't want to congratulate them. Ishizu, Marik... The two walked away from her with their own families.

A knock on her door caught her attention. She touched her face verifying that she had not cried or wanted to do so and opened.

Her stepsister appeared with that warm smile that characterized her so much.

"Mana, what happened?" she asked. "You feel good?"

"I… not really," she couldn't lie to those huge blue eyes. Before she knew it, she was already crying. "Why didn't anyone tell me? You both get married and neither had the courage to tell me in the face!"

Ishizu put an arm around her shoulders to enter the room and close the door behind her.

"Mana, this is not going to change anything between us."

"How can it not? You don't live here anymore and now Marik also leaves. If I wasn't 18 years old I would have to go live with someone else."

Ishizu hugged her.

"You may not understand it yet. Sometimes loving makes you have to make difficult decisions, but that doesn't mean that we are going to put you aside."

Mana knew it, but it didn't justify the fact that none had told her. Why? Did they expect her to jump out of happiness among all those people?

Not even Marik deigned to tell her earlier when he could. Is he really so oblivious to her feelings? Or is it the opposite? She knew he didn't love Serenity!

"Okay, I understand," she lied and smiled. "Seto must be waiting for you. Go eat, I'll go down after... fix my face again," she tried to joke.

Ishizu smiled at her and got up.

"Mana, Marik and I love you, okay? You can always count on us. We will always be together in one way or another."

Mana nodded and said goodbye with one hand.

That wasn't the way she wanted. She was envious somehow.

She sighed exhausted and went straight to the bathroom. She was no longer going to dinner, her hunger was gone completely.

* * *

Once Ishizu went down again to the living room, Marik quickly went to meet her.

"Did you talk to Mana?" He wanted to know. She nodded. "How did she take it?"

"Not very well," she replied looking at the guests and then looking back at his brother. "I don't know if she thinks we're going to put her aside, or if she's upset because nobody told her anything, but I still don't think she's going to come down for the rest of the night."

Marik sighed.

"I see."

As the sister she was, Ishizu noticed her brother's lack of comfort with the whole affair surrounding them. Moving one leg and looking around, he seemed to want everyone to leave at once.

"Marik," she called and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure about this? You know you don't have to—"

"I think it's the best, sister," he sighed. "I don't want Mana to try harder when she doesn't have to. This company, this job... It's something that mom and dad left us, not her."

Ishizu clenched her lips.

"Sorry for leaving this to you," she said.

He shook his head.

"It's not necessary. Everyone decides with their life. I decide to protect Mana at the expense of mine."

Ishizu frowned upset and worried, however soon she changed it for a calm smile.

"But getting married... Marik, it's a very big step. I understand why Mana is so shocked. II didn't know that you and the Wheeler's daughter were still together. That was fast, you're bolder than I thought."

Marik smiled. That Mana was surprised wasn't very strange, she was a distracted girl after all, but the matter changed with Ishizu. She was the kind of person who always kept her composure.

"I'm not bold, quite the opposite," he replied confusing his sister. "Serenity is a good girl, I like her and I think it's a great opportunity. I'll talk to Mana later to clarify things."

Ishizu nodded somewhat dissatisfied, but it's not as if she could object. With that, both returned to the side of their respective partners.

* * *

With a slight clink, Mana opened her eyes. She hadn't even realized that she had fallen asleep even in the dress she had worn.

A pair of bright eyes appeared in front of her.

"Oh, I had forgotten you," she smiled as she stroked the cat's head.

With an exaggerated yawn, Mana got out of bed to get something more comfortable. She could still hear some voices coming from the room, so she decided not to go down yet.

Once she put on pants, a blouse and a jacket, Mana looked at the books and notebooks on her desk. She could still do a little more about her research so she sat down, but she nothing came to her mind.

She rested her head on her arm and sighed. At any moment Marik would come up and give her a conversation similar to the one she had with Ishizu. She didn't want to face it yet.

If possible, she would like to return to the old days.

The cat that had been on her bed jumped to her desk and meowed beside her. Mana was startled and looked at the cat.

"You always show up when I'm tired, huh..." she sighed. "Now that I remember it, cats were highly valued and appreciated in ancient Egypt, do you have any interesting fact for my project?"

The cat inclined her head and Mana laughed.

"Of course not, what do I do talking to a cat?"

**_«You can decide now, human.» _**

Mana erased the smile from her face when she heard those words and looked at the cat. Her snout did not move, but the same voice spoke directly inside her head.

A voice she swore to have heard before, only she didn't remember.

**_«It is time to return. Both are old enough. Both must fulfill your destiny. »_**

"Eh? Return?" Mana didn't understand what it was talking about, or if it was really talking to someone, but for some reason she wasn't completely unaware.

Did she want to go back somewhere? Why did she somehow feel that way? Why was she even thinking about what she thought she heard?

Soon, everything around her seemed... to distort. She was no longer in her room, but in an empty space solely accompanied by the cat, or that was what she believed before everything turned black.


	3. II

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

**_«The time has come for your decision, human.»_**

_Decision?._Mana repeated in some echo of her thoughts, realizing that somehow and at some point she had regained a part of her consciousness.

She tried to open her eyes, move her hands and do something other than feel conscious, but she couldn't, she could only hear and think.

**_«As in that time, I will give you a time limit.»_**

_That time? Oh, sure... maybe it means when I went to that place_.

"That place" referred to by Mana had no shape or color in her memory. It was just _that_ place that marked a blank space among all her memories.

A place she knew she had gone to, because they had told her, but not because she knew it herself.

Maybe it was like having a mental gap. That kind of facts that one lives, but still the brain does not register. All that time, Mana had lived with that mental gap without wondering beyond that.

But then... was she being kidnapped again? She had no idea. She couldn't imagine how. She was as lost as when her father told her the same thing that time.

**_«See you when time is up. Then you will give me your decision, Manet.»_**

Manet? Time? How much was it?

Mana didn't know what it meant, or if she should know in advance, if so, she didn't remember it, and if it wasn't , she had already missed the opportunity to ask. Had she even had one? She felt that even if she had tried, it would not have responded.

And maybe she felt that way because she had done it before, but why?

She could finally feel a reaction in her real body. Her frown had frowned due to the light that bothered her eyelids and the heat that burned her skin. She felt a discomfort in her nose and soon sneezed as sand entered her nostrils.

_One moment_, she told herself. In Domino City—In Japan it was autumn. There was no way she could feel so hot in a time like that.

Other than that, sand... _What the hell?_

"Hey," she heard a voice. It was masculine and looked like someone full of confidence, or rather arrogance. "I am talking to you."

Mana was heavily shaken until she opened her eyes. A middle-aged man was leaning over her. His breath reeked of alcohol and his head was covered with a white turban.

"G-Get away!" Mana pushed him with all the force that her arms allowed.

However, the man was barely moved. Instead, before Mana could run, he took her arm and took out a knife from his robe.

"Your clothes are strange, girl. You're not from here, are you? I recommend you stay quiet.

Mana saw the knife's edge reflect the sun and swallowed. She didn't know what this guy wanted, he didn't look like someone poor as a servant, or a villager, because of the jewels—

Mana's emerald eyes widened with her last thought. Servant or villager? What the hell was she thinking? Not only that, the man had spoken to her in another language and, similarly, she had responded even though it wasn't Japanese or even English.

When the man's hand began to rise up her forearm, she reacted quickly.

"Do not touch me!" she hit him where it hurt most with one knee and as soon as he released her, she started running no matter how hot her coat caused her.

"B-Bitch!"

Even though Mana didn't turn around, she knew immediately that she would be persecuted if she wasn't already.

She didn't recognize where she was. She had barely noticed her surroundings when she started running and now she had to look for a route to escape.

And she knew that everything would get worse when she turned a corner.

The sight made her stop her steps completely.

_W-what?_

The ground, while it was hard, was not sidewalk or concrete as her brain reasoned in the beginning, instead it seemed to be stone, or dry land. The streets were long, but cars didn't pass through them, but different types of farm animals.

When she rested her body on one of the walls, she quickly noticed that it wasn't even brick or wood, but seemed adobe or stone. People wore strange and light attire that she was sure she had seen before in some illustration. The shops were small stalls made by sticks and huge fabrics.

_Looked like..._

She pursed her lips and decided not to think about it when she ran to the center of what appeared to be a central city. Around her, people passed by her busy in their own affairs.

"Hey! Please! Could—?" she tried to get the attention of anyone who seemed to be of help, but they only responded with a demeaning look.

Then she felt a sweaty hand on her forearm again.

"Here you are."

When she turned around, Mana met the same man who was sure she had already lost. How persistent.

"Don't—! Let go!" she struggled when the man began to pull her toward a street farther from the crowd. "Let me go! Help!"

Mana knew she was getting attention. She felt people's eyes, but no one came close.

"Hum!" the man laughed. "Do you think someone is going to want to get into a scandal in this era? No one would do it, much less for a foreigner," he gave her a disgusting smile. "Now, you are going to pay for what you did."

Mana was pushing him with everything she could, but she stopped as soon as the knife appeared on the scene again. The man pulled her to him and tore the jacket that covered her.

Was everything going to be like this? Was she going to be raped by this man and left on the streets without even knowing where she was?

It couldn't be like that. She didn't want to. What would Marik think? What would Ishizu do instead?

"Let me go!" no matter how sharp the knife was, Mana took it by the blade and tried to snatch it.

"Bitch, why don't you shut up at once ?!" the man dropped the knife, but Mana couldn't do much when a strong slap made her face spin. Her screams stopped and her vision began to blur. "That's better," said the man, holding her wrists.

Once Mana felt the man's breath on her neck, she closed her eyes tightly and avoided shedding tears.

However, the whinny of horses, a strong bang and the release of her hands made her open the eyes again.

A young man with a blue cape, who stood out even among the clothes that appeared to be normal, was riding on a beautiful white horse with a sword in hand. Mana turned her gaze to the man, who still didn't get up, there was no blood on the floor, so she supposed he had only been beaten.

"How dare you?" the man growled, rising and addressing the young man who had arrived. With one of his hands he looked for the knife that Mana had dropped at some point and lashed out at him.

The young man didn't even try to move and, although Mana was confused, she soon understood the reason for his confidence when another horse suddenly appeared. Its rider was a young man no older than twenty-five with dark skin. He wore a turban and a tunic of a beige-like color in addition to the golden jewels and glowing ornaments.

He stood between the aggressor and the boy, his horse stood on its two hind legs whining furiously.

"Don't come to Kemet with the intention of causing disturbances, Madu," said the newcomer with a slight tone impossible to distinguish between warning and threat.

_Kemet?_ Mana repeated in her mind. _Wasn't__ it—? Wasn't that what it was called—?_

"Tsk!" the so-called Madu complained. "And who do you think—? "

"Who are we?" asked the horseman of the brown horse and then showed something hanging from his neck. It was a golden circular article with a triangle in the middle and a strange eye.

Madu opened and closed his mouth unsure of what to say by stepping back.

"The Millennium Ring? It can't be—You are priests... Forgive me, please! The Pharaoh doesn't have to know, please!" Madu knelt and hit his face to the floor while begging for whatever he was praying for.

Once again, Mana repeated the words spoken in her mind trying to find an explanation logical enough for what was happening.

"If you already know what will happen and repeat again and again, you have no right to apologize, do you?"

"Gugh!" Mana swore she heard him cry, but she didn't feel a hint of grief.

"Just get out, the Pharaoh has no time or health to worry about garbage like you," said the young man in the blue cape.

His voice was... _beautiful_, thought Mana. And, for some reason, she just noticed that her legs were shaking. _Huh...The adrenaline has already passed._

The horses whinnied once more when Madu ran off exclaiming «thank you!» until he disappeared between adobe houses and fruit stands.

Then Mana's legs gave way and she fell on her knees.

What was happening? Where she was? Why did everything remind her of the history books she had read? Mana was so confused that she couldn't fully understand everything around her.

"Hey, you are bleeding," she heard the boy in the cape say. When she looked up, her emerald eyes met a pair of amethysts that still shone in the shadow of the cloak.

And she could swear that the boy _also_ frowned.

Sbe directed her gaze to her hand and, indeed, taking the knife by the blade had been nothing good, now she had a deep cut that crossed diagonally the palm of her left hand and dripped fresh blood staining her clothes.

Apparently her brain still didn't register the pain, but her heart still beat with fear. Suddenly the boy got off his horse to approach and kneel in front of her.

"My Prince—!" the other young man exclaimed with concern, but was interrupted and silenced when the young man in the cape gave him a stern look.

"She's not armed, there's no problem," the boy said and stretched his neck to watch Mana's wound. "Where you come from? What is your name, stranger?"

Where did she come from? She was more worried about how she got there. Bringing her healthy hand to her face, Mana tried to relive the facts in her memory.

_I was talking to someone, right?_

_No, it would be more correct to say that someone was talking to me_, she thought and frowned. _That someone called me_...

"Manet...?" she let out without really thinking.

The boy in front of her nodded.

"I see. Manet is a rare name. I had never heard it before."

"Huh?" for a moment Mana didn't understand what he was saying. "No, I mean—"

But the boy didn't let her continue when he looked at the other young man.

"We're going to take her to the palace, Mahad. This wound must be treated by Isis," he said, helping her up.

The so-called Mahad frowned in confusion and annoyance.

"Take her to the palace?" He repeated. "My Prince, I agreed to accompany you to go around the town to understand your responsibility, not to pick up injured foreigners."

_Ouji?_ Mana repeated in her mind. It was strange, it didn't sound the same.*

"And that this girl has been hurt by a former palace guard with behavior and drinking problems that we always knew he had, isn't my responsibility too?" He replied.

Mana didn't quite understand what they were talking about, but from the expression Mahad gave, she knew that Ouji had hit the spot.

"I understand," Mahad agreed.

If Mana knew the named Ouji, she might have thought he was smiling. Which was not equivocal.

"Come on," he said, taking her hand and leading her toward his horse.

The act was so sudden and confident that it made Mana stop suddenly.

"No!" she yelled and pulled her arm hard. It was an unconscious act. She didn't want to be with a drunk stranger, but that didn't mean she would blindly follow two sober strangers. "Kemet, palace, priests, ouji—What does all that mean?! Where am I?! Who are you—?! Wah!"

She didn't have time to keep questioning because the young man in the blue cape literally threw her on his white horse.

He climbed in less than a second later and took the reins so that Mana couldn't get off.

"You are very loud, you will get attention and I don't feel like listening to a conference from my father or the other priests," he said sternly before turning to Mahad. "Sorry for this."

Mana looked confused at the pair. Mahad just nodded before they both moved their hands hard and the horses started running. Mana clung tightly to Ouji's cape. It isn't as if she had never ridden on horseback before, but she had never been so fast, or with another person on the same animal.

People broke through without even thinking twice. The mothers held their children, the farmers directed their animals to the side of the road and everyone, absolutely everyone, lowered their heads until they passed.

If they were important people, Mana no longer doubted it.

Before she knew it, the horses stopped in front of a huge wall with a gate in the middle that surely led to the beautiful and great construction that could still be seen from where they were. A couple of guards appeared and they only had to take a look at Mahad to make their way through with a quite polite silent greeting.

When they were finally inside, the young Ouji first got off the horse and then called an even younger boy to take both animals.

Mana held her hand tightly as she watched the surroundings. She was sure. The huge columns, the polished floors, the drawn walls...

"Call Isis and tell her to come soon," the beautiful young voice ordered.

_Beautiful?_ _It is not time for that._

She shook her head ready to say that it was nothing serious and that she would prefer to be helped to back home, but her words stuck in hee throat when she saw that the so-called ouji removed his cloak.

His hair was bill and three colors, his skin was tanned and, as she had already noticed, his eyes simply matched the amethysts.

However, apart from being a really attractive and handsome young man, what surprised Mana most was that she already knew him. She knew him, right?

He looked at her.

"Something happens?" he asked.

She pursed her lips and bowed her head. Almost, she could almost feel her eyes filled with tears of happiness as she approached doubtfully in the footsteps.

"What happened to you?"

"Huh?"

"You are..."

* * *

**For Mana, it is as if she were listening to everything in Japanese, but she knows that it is not so because she unconsciously recognizes that it's another language, as if it were already preprogrammed. So, what happens with "Prince," is practically that the word is not in her programming. That's why she understands it, but she cannot say it and, instead, her mind translates it as "Ouji." You know, a nod to the original series;)**


	4. III

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

"You are..." Mana began to say, but she ended up shaking her head. "No... You aren't Yūgi, are you?"

He blinked a couple of times and was slow to respond; although he didn't seem to be thinking about the answer, but rather how to respond.

"Yūgi?" repeated the boy in front of her. "No, I'm sorry, that's not my name."

Mana nodded somehow disappointed. Of course, he couldn't be her childhood friend. This boy was a hundred times more confident than Yūgi, not to mention that he was taller and with an aura that Mana couldn't describe.

Yep. It was definitely not Yūgi.

She sighed and clenched her hands unconsciously causing her to let out a faint moan.

"Are you okay? Mahad must already be heading back with Isis," he said worriedly and approached with slight caution before taking her hand. "Sorry for this, I told my father that we should keep an eye on Madu, but there are times when he doesn't listen to me."

Mana smiled at his attempt to make her feel better.

"No, it's fine, that you brought me to see a doctor is enough."

He was slow to give an answer again. Every time Mana spoke was as if he was simply surprised to hear her. Did she speak oddly? Did she have a weird accent? Or did she say the words wrong?

A few seconds of confusing silence later, a few steps approaching caught Mana's attention, but before she could look up, someone had already taken her by the collar of her jacket and pulled back.

"Hey! What's wrong with you?!"

"I have to ask you the same. Who are you and who let you in?" asked a rather severe and authoritative voice.

When Mana looked up, apart from seeing Mahad with a beautiful woman who reminded her a lot of Ishizu, she met a tall, blue-eyed man.

His tunic, unlike that of Mahad, or that of anyone she has seen, was a varied color of blue with golden ornaments on his arms and so on.

"Ah? My name is—"

"It's okay, Seto," Mahad interrupted, approaching and making the so-called Seto, who Mana assumed was another priest, leave her. "It was the prince himself who brought her."

Seto looked at Yūgi's counterpart for confirmation. He nodded without hesitation.

"But what is the meaning of this, Mahad? Did you allow it?" he wanted to know.

Mana frowned. She didn't like authoritarian people, especially those who wanted to go over the decisions of others.

However, instead of getting exalted or indignant, Mahad only sighed wearily.

"If the Prince orders it, there is nothing I can do, is there?"

Prince, there was that word again that Mana could only relate to Ouji, although she wasn't 100% sure about it.

Before Seto could reply, ouji intervened addressing the woman who had so far remained expectant.

"Could you take care of her, Isis? Madu hurt her," he said.

The woman called Isis didn't seem really surprised and looked towards Mana from top to bottom. Mana didn't feel that she did so with a denigrating intention, but rather the way in which doctors first examined a child.

Stretching her left hand, Mana showed her the deep cut and Isis grimaced, taking her hand in hers and studying the wound.

"It is deep, Your Majesty, it might take at least a few days to heal enough."

_At least?_ Thought Mana. That wasn't right, Marik will worry a lot if he wasn't already.

"Whatever it takes," he replied.

Mana quickly shook her head and pushed her hand away from Isis with a sudden movement.

"No. No. A bandage will be enough," she tried to convince them no matter how bad she felt by rejecting their kindness. "Rather, if you could tell me—"

"No. It won't be enough with just a bandage," Isis replied seriously. She took her by her other hand and looked her straight in the eye. "You have to treat the wound if you don't want it to get infected and worsen."

"Worsen?" repeated Mana.

Isis nodded.

"You could lose your hand due to infection and I'm not joking. Let's go inside so I can help you."

"Huh..." Mana didn't know very well if she could trust these people. They didn't seem really bad or dangerous, but there was always that cautious side that Ishizu had taught her to keep.

However, that side disappeared as soon as she met Ouji's eyes. He smiled at her so... real, Mana had no courage to doubt more.

Before leaving with Mahad and Isis, who also promised her a change of clothes, she stopped to talk to Ouji.

"Eh... We'll see each other again, right?" she asked uncertainly. He nodded strangely. "We will do it, right?"

Mana didn't understand why, but this boy made her feel a feeling of trust that perhaps she only felt with her family and close friends. A trust that no one would usually give to someone they barely knew. Was that the effect a hero caused? Mana assumed that, because this individual saved her, her brain simply felt she could trust him.

Although he blinked again taking time to respond, he nodded at the end.

"Yes, we will."

She smiled with a joy she thought she didn't have.

"Great!"

And with that, Mana hurried up to approach Mahad and Isis, waving her hand to the young man of the amethyst gaze.

He returned the gesture, although he seemed a little confused in doing so before taking another path with the Priest Seto. All she could hear was that his father had sent him to call a while ago.

The road was somewhat silent and awkward. Mana swore that Mahad didn't like her and that Isis only did what Ouji had ordered.

Trying not to think about that much, Mana tried to get distracted by the architecture of the palace. It was huge and beautiful, much like the computer artwork that the university had provided for one of her history works.

"Wait here, please," Isis told her, taking her out of her admiration.

Mana took a seat on a very large divan without being ignorant of Mahad's gaze.

"Ahm... You don't like me, do you?" she asked, but he didn't answer. "Sorry, as soos as I can I will try to return to my home. I don't plan anything against you."

Mahad just sighed.

"Manet, I don't know what the place you come from is like, but here it is not allowed to talk so informally with the members of the royal family," he said.

_Huh_... Mana sweated at the mention of wasn't much to do about that, but what Mahad had said led her to think…

"Where are we, by the way?" she wanted to know.

"Where?" repeated Mahad and she nodded. "Have you never been to Thebes before?"

If Mana had previously been confused and shocked, now she was more.

"T-Thebes?"

Mahad nodded silently and Mana felt she wanted to throw up everything she hadn't eaten.

Thebes was once the capital of Egypt. Was she in Egypt? In ancient Egypt?

Now she was seriously asking: how had she got there?

Suddenly she realized something and jumped up to Mahad.

"Wait! So with royal family do you mean—?"

"To Pharaoh and the Prince."

"Pharaoh and _Purins_?" she tried to repeat, but the word just didn't come from her lips as she imagined. "_Purius, Prins.._."

She tried again and again. Her tongue didn't deign to do it right, or what?

"Whatever. Have I been talking very disrespectfully with _Pirins_ without realizing it? But I didn't know he was a royal! Will you punish me for that?" Mana was really desperate to think.

Or so it was until he heard Mahad trying not to laugh. She looked at him with an expression of «What?!» and he just shook his head.

"I'm sorry. Do not worry about it."

"Huh? How do you want me not to worry?" asked something obfuscated.

She really didn't understand anything that happened and if she died before she could do it, then she would be so disappointed with herself that her soul would be wandering the earthly world until she could understand it.

That mustn't happen!

Certainly, Mana no longer knew what was going on in her head.

"Looks like you're getting along," they both heard Isis as she approached with a few things in her hands.

"Not really," Mahad replied before starting to walk. "I will ask the seamstress for some clothes, hers are very strange."

"Thank you?"

"It wasn't a compliment," Isis interrupted, putting something on the wound that made her jump due to the burning sensation.

Now that she remembered, Mana had never looked at what medicine was like in those times.

And it seemed like she was going to find out soon.

* * *

Walking through the wide hallways of the palace, Atem imagined what his father wanted to talk to him about.

Maybe some servant had already told him about Manet, or maybe he just wanted to discuss government issues. Whatever the case, Atem really didn't feel like doing so.

A tired sigh escaped his lips.

"My Prince, I am nobody to doubt your decisions, but are you sure it was best to bring a unknown person to the palace without the Pharaoh's authorization?" asked the priest.

Atem looked at him sideways.

"She's not a unknown person, her name is Manet," Atem corrected.

Seto raised an eyebrow.

"Besides that, may I ask what else you know about her? The country she comes from? Family? Status?" he wanted to know. "She could be a spy, you know."

Rolling his eyes, Atem exhaled tiredly. He was the prince of the palace. Pharaoh's son and still his servants —no, his friends doubted him.

It was absurd.

"You say that, but she didn't even seem to know who I am, or Mahad, or where she stands."

"She could be pretending," Seto replied.

"She would have to be very good at lying to fool me," Atem looked at him.

"Are you sure about that?"

The Prince blinked and stopped his steps, getting Seto to do the same and turn around on his axis to observe him.

"What are you trying to say? Speak clearly," he ordered.

Seto sighed and crossed his arms over the golden embellishment of his chest.

"My Prince, we have grown almost evenly and I can say with certainty that you have a too kind heart compared to your father."

With that said, Seto continued walking without even deigning to wait for him.

Atem clenched his fists. Okay, now he really didn't want to hear any lecture from his father.

He relaxed his shoulders at the end of the hall as soon as he ran into his father's chambers door. Two guards waited outside and, by seeing him, greeted him silently with a bow.

Atem smiled, but stopped before entering. He and his father lived together, but it was uncommon that they talked outside formal matters. Although they didn't not get along, the truth was that they did not have the best relationship of all.

_«You shouldn't be so tense! My dad says it's not good for a child to work so hard!»_

_Huh?_

Atem turned on his heel when he heard that echo in his head. It had sounded so real and nostalgic, but he didn't even know whose voice it was... or if it was real.

"Is anything the matter, my Prince? Are you feeling alright?" asked one of the worried guards.

He nodded.

"Yes, just—" he shook his head. "I think I'm tired."

Then he entered his father's room, only to find that he was not the only guest.

Aknadin and Shimon were also present and none had a pleasant expression on their faces.

"I heard you called me, father" he said as he greeted the priest and the royal advisor with a nod.

The current Pharaoh Aknamkanon nodded.

"Welcome, my son," he said. "Take a seat, please, there is an important issue that we ought to discuss."

"An important issue?" he repeated confused and watched the two senior priests of the court.

Both nodded.

"It's about a grave thief, my Prince," Shimon replied.

"Just a thief?" Atem frowned.

Aknadin shared a strange look with Aknamkanon before shaking his head slightly.

"No, my Prince, he's not just a thief."

Atem looked at his father.

"This is the most dangerous thief, my son," he said. "It's about the Thief King."

* * *

Mana watched herself, not ont the mirrors. She had bronze mirrors, but these only made her doubt her vision.

It's not like she's never worn a fresh, short dress before, but now she wasn't used to it.

_I wonder what Marik or Ishizu would think if they saw me in this dress,_ she thought.

Although, well, they weren't there.

If she saw it that way, it wasn't a bad thing to be alone, but she still missed them.

"It suits you, lady Manet," Isis flattered with a calm smile.

Mana smiled at the name and shook her head.

"Just Manet is fine," she said.

It was enough that that was not her name. She didn't want to be treated as a "lady". Nobody treated her like that at home after all.

"Then Manet," she emphasized her name with a calm smile, "I think this will please the Prince."

Mana laughed slightly.

"Ouji? You think?" it's not as if she was really interested, but looking good before a handsome guy was something that every girl liked, wasn't it?

"Ouji?" repeated Isis confused.

Mana waved her hands.

"Ah! Sorry if it sounds strange. It's just that where I come from, that is the word we use to address the son of a Pharaoh and, well... calling him as you do makes my tongue lock," she smiled embarrassed. "Do you think he dislikes it? I have already treated him too disrespectfully to give him a strange nickname, maybe I should practice the pronunciation of _Purins... Pirins_?... Huh?"

This time it was Isis who laughed. And, in fact, she didn't stop for a while, making the situation more embarrassing for Mana.

"I don't think it bothers him," she said. "Perhaps his Majesty likes it."

"Likes it..." Mana repeated and soon slapped herself mentally.

I shouldn't think about that. She had to think about how to get back. She had to think only of coming back.

She thanked and said goodbye to Isis after she showed her what her room would be. It was on a second floor.

She hoped it wasn't a problem.


	5. IV

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS _**

* * *

Pharaoh Aknamkanon ended the discreet conference after more time than Atem assumed; however, that wasn't what really bothered him.

In general, this type of conference was given in the royal hall and with all the guardian priests of the Millennium Items present, which would become six more people apart from the Pharaoh.

Of course, Atem also attended these meetings, he did so since he was younger to get used to the life of a king, according to his father; however, his father usually left him out with the most important decisions and issues.

As was the case, for example, with the King of Thieves. His father wouldn't include him in something like that.

After Aknadin and Shimon retired, Atem wanted to question his father's decision, but the Pharaoh interrupted him before he could speak.

"Son, I was told that you brought an unknown woman to the palace," he said, taking a seat in his large bed.

The Prince almost rolls his eyes.

"Did Seto tell you, or one of the servants?" He asked, but was only answered by a laugh and subsequent dry cough from his father.

"You ought to know that in this palace the walls have ears and talk," he joked, making Atem smile. "And may I know why you allowed the entry of this foreigner, my son?"

Atem sighed and nodded.

"She was being attacked by Madu, the former guard I told you about. She was injured... seriously and I offered her to be treated by Isis. She refused at first, but she's here," he explained and once heard his father laugh. Atem frowned. "What?"

"And is she pretty, son? Do you plan to make her your first concubine?"

If Atem's skin weren't dark, surely his blush would have been much more noticeable than it seemed.

"What? Is that what everyone has been thinking?" asked kind of outraged and looking sideways in search of some curious servant.

His father raised an eyebrow.

"Well, they say she has the green eyes that you like so much, no?"

This time, Atem rolled his eyes.

"Father, you turn out to be more libertine than all Egypt thinks," he sighed. "One thing has nothing to do with the other, that I have helped her doesn't mean that I look for her with other intentions. Besides, she doesn't seem to have come here by her own free will."

Pharaoh Aknamkanon looked confused.

"What do you mean, son? Could she be a slave who escaped?"

Atem denied.

"I do not think so. Her clothes were strange and she didn't even seem to know where she was standing. I would like to help her, nothing more."

His father exhaled and relaxed his shoulders, Atem felt it was a sigh of disappointment, so he asked for an explanation with his eyes.

"It's just that I thought it would be good to leave you with someone else's support before leaving on my way to the _duat_," he said.

"Father, don't say things like that," Atem said worriedly, but his father stopped him with a nod. "Wait... so that's why you called me at this strange meeting?"

Aknamkanon didn't nod or deny, but his silence granted.

"Atem, I'm dying and you know it," he declared, giving no option to reply. "Very soon my duties will be yours. Very soon you will need more support than you think. It may not seem like it, but the Priests, the harem, or any other person cannot be as good a boost as those you really love... and no, the people of Kemet don't count on this occasion."

Silence flooded his father's quarters. Atem knew what he was talking about, but the idea of seeing his father leave still felt too far away to fully understand it. He couldn't assume it yet and he might never do it, even after it happened.

Before Atem left his father, Pharaoh Aknamkanon called him one last time.

"One more thing, my son, " he looked at him. "Love and devotion to one person can be good, but don't make the same mistake as me. Because of me, you are the only one obliged to continue my duty."

Atem looked away from his father before starting to walk.

"I'm not being forced to anything," he said, leaving his rooms.

But he didn't know if it was true.

He walked silently through the halls, nodding slightly to the guards and servants. That his father himself said he was going to die was even more difficult than any lesson Shimon had given him before.

During moments of reflection, Atem used to walk without looking closely at his surroundings, or even deigned to hear what was said. He practically became a thoughtful ghost.

It was not until he was far from his father's room and complete solitude that he noticed a strange figure walking around. Well, he told himself, it wasn't completely strange. Somehow he knew who she was even when she only seemed to be a shadow in the gloom.

—Manet.

* * *

Mana was completely grateful for what Isis and Ouji had done for her, she couldn't deny it, but she really wanted to leave that huge palace and find a way to return to her home.

However, that huge palace also seemed to be a confusing maze. Full of hallways and so many doors that she no longer knew where she had come from.

"Ah!" Mana jumped at the sudden call of her no-name and turned to face who had found her. "O-Ouji!"

Ouji inclined his head with a funny expression.

"_Ouji_?" he repeated and Mana opened her eyes wide before covering her mouth with both hands in a reflex act.

"I-I mean... _Pirins?" sh_e tried for the umpteenth time this day.

"_Pirins_? You mean «prince»?"

Mana nodded before lowering her head.

"I ask for your pardon. I have been treating you very disrespectfully without knowing that you are the Pharaoh's son."

He laughed a little and somehow Mana saw him more relaxed. She meant—it's not like she's seen him tense. She had no way of knowing.

_Agh... Who are you trying to convince, my brain?_

" Manet?" he called her when Mana suddenly fell silent. "Is your wound already better?"

Mana blinked a couple of times and smiled as she lifted the palm of her left hand.

"Like brand new, do you see it?!" she exclaimed, opening and closing her hand. "Gugh!"

Big mistake. She practically felt how the newly healed skin reopened with just one stretch. The Prince laughed again and Mana smiled the same way, although she didn't understand why.

"You—You did it again, you know?" he commented.

Mana blinked confused.

"Huh? What did I do?"

"Treating me informally."

Once Mana understood what he was saying, the smile disappeared from her face before bowing.

"Ah! Pardon me, it will not happen again!" she exclaimed desperately.

He laughed.

"Don't worry, Manet," he smiled calmly and Mana could swear that both his eyes and his smile illuminated the environment. "Talking to you is... fun and relaxing, somehow."

And it was then that Mana understood. She understood why it was that she could trust this boy despite not knowing him for more than a day. It wasn't because her brain related him to a hero.

_«Talking to you is always entertaining ...»_

She knew she could trust him because...

"You have a lot of weight on your shoulders, don't you?" she commented forgetting all formality. She didn't know what kind of look she was giving him, but she hoped he understood what she was trying to say.

The Prince smiled and tilted his head, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well, it is expected as I am the only child of the Pharaoh, don't you think?"

"Only child?" Mana repeated confused, or rather missed.

Pharaohs weren't used to having many wives and, therefore, many children? _If I remember correctly, only one Pharaoh had one child—_

She didn't have time to ask anything when a few steps in the gloom were heard. The Prince swore under his breath, quickly taking her hand and leading her through one of the halls with speed and stealth.

When Mana was about to ask what was happening, completely forgetting her previous questions, the Prince brought his index finger to his lips indicating silence.

One of the guards, it seems, was doing night shift.

A few roads, corridors and doors later, somehow Mana and the Prince arrived at Mana's room. They didn't enter, but both stayed in front of the threshold.

Mana assumed that it was still a kind of taboo for them to enter girls' rooms, or something like that.

And although the thought itself made her laugh, she looked at him waiting for explanations.

"The Pharaoh... He's not in his best condition and we weren't too far from his chambers. I don't want strange rumors spreading about you and that Seto has more reason to doubt."

Mana smiled gracefully.

"You care a lot about a stranger like me," she said.

He shrugged and looked away.

"No... You don't really look like a stranger. I do not know how to explain it."

Mana's funny smile disappeared to be replaced by a surprised expression and then a more tender smile.

"Me neither..." she mentioned before they both heard some of the priests approaching.

The Prince pursed his lips and Mana thought that perhaps, just as he didn't want rumors spread about her, he also didn't want them to spread about him... or about the two, to be precise.

Without thinking methodically, Mana took from the front of his outfit and pulled him into her room ignoring his stutters that were surely questions.

* * *

Atem went blank a few seconds before he understood what Manet was doing.

It was a room not so big compared to his, but it wasn't small either. It was probably larger than some of the houses farthest from the capital.

He almost felt self-conscious. He had had experiences with the harem, talked to Isis every day and then interacted with the maids, but Manet was completely different. She didn't look up on him, but equally.

It intimidated him, but he was also curious to know more and more about this girl.

Once they learned that the priests had passed, Manet sighed and smiled.

"I'm sorry for that," she apologized, "_Prins_... _Purins_... Can't I call you any other way? Where I come from, there are not these things exactly."

Atem smiled and an idea came to his mind.

"You... You were trying to escape a while ago, right?" he wanted to know.

Manet blinked and raised both eyebrows.

"Eh... Ah..." she stammered, looking towards another place in the room before exhaling and relaxing her shoulders. "You found out, huh..."

"Well, I can't think of another reason why you were walking blindly through the palace," Atem replied smiling. Somehow, both had ended up sitting on the edge of Manet's bed. "Do you want to return so much?"

Manet nodded, looking at the floor.

"By now... Someone must be waiting for me."

"You mean that Yūgi?" asked Atem.

She smiled amused and quickly shook her head and hands in a somewhat exaggerated gesture.

"No, no, Yūgi is just a friend... I mean my stepbrother. His name is Marik, now he must be very worried."

"Stepbrother... your husband?" Atem asked and she blushed furiously for a few seconds.

It wasn't uncommon that siblings get married to maintain the lineage; however, by not guaranteeing healthy offspring, Atem didn't really recognize it.

If he had a sister, he would certainly have refused to marry her.

"No! Just my brother. What's more, he is going to marry someone else…" she swallowed before laughing lightly. "I say I want to return, although I don't really know how."

"You don't know?"

She silently denied.

"So how about staying here until you find out?" he offered so quickly that he regreted it for a moment. Probably Seto would not agree. Manet looked up confused. "I mean... You were going to stay because of the wound, right? Here at least you'll have a roof and food, and I can have Shimon, or Mahad help you find a way to return... Just... Well...

Why was he so desperate for her to stay? He had no idea.

Manet then laughed to lighten the mood. Her smile, Atem thought, was like that garua that occasionally appeared in Egypt.

Quiet and refreshing, but without becoming a storm.

* * *

Mana didn't know why she was laughing, but she liked him. She liked this prince. She liked him to worry about her, but...

"Won't you get in trouble?" she wanted to know.

He denied.

"There are many more things to worry about than the whim of a Prince."

Mana nodded.

"Then I accept," she ended up saying. It was true that she wasn't completely sure. She still wanted to go back and support her brother, but Ouji—There was something that made her not want to leave yet. She also wanted to be his support. "I will stay here until I find a safe way to return, Ouji.

He looked at her with both eyebrows raised and she noticed again what was happening, but before she could apologize—

"It's okay, Manet, you can call me that," he smiled, but Mana still grimaced. "Is something the matter?"

She denied, but his insistent look made her speak.

"It's just—I told you that we don't have these titles where I come from."

Ouji tilted his head.

"So how would you like to call me?"

She shrugged and an idea came to her mind.

"Your name!" she exclaimed. "You call me by my name —_almost_— so I should also be able to call you by yours, right?"

* * *

"My name?" Atem repeated and Manet nodded.

"Yes, your name. Your mother didn't give you one?"

Atem sighed. His name... If it wasn't because it was his and because his father occasionally called him like that, he probably would have already forgotten.

"I understand," he said before getting up, "then you can call me Atem."

It was even weird to say after such a long time.

"Atem?" repeated Manet.

He nodded heading for the door.

"Yes. That is my name. Nonetheless, you can only call me that when we are alone, otherwise you have to call me «Ouji» in your language, or «Prince»."

Manet nodded smiling and then he left her room quietly wishing no one saw him.

He heard Manet sigh his name one last time before leaving.

He didn't remember how much he liked his name.

* * *

Mana waited for Atem to leave so she could lie on herbed.

"Atem, huh..." she said as sighing.

It didn't sound bad. It didn't sound far, or strange.

She liked it more than she was willing to admit and caused her a rare feeling of nostalgia.

_How weird..._


	6. V

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

After a week, Mana's wound had progressed enough that the bandage would stop sticking to the wound and the edges would no longer be purple; however, she still couldn't use her hand as she wanted —omitting the fact that a not pretty scar would accompany her for the rest of her life.

Mana wasn't a girl who cared about those things, but without a doubt, when asked what happened, she wouldn't know how to explain it.

"Ah, heck!" she exclaimed when she dropped a few papyri that her left hand or, rather, that the fingers of that hand didn't finish grasping.

It hadn't been much surprise that, as she could speak and understand the Egyptian language, she could also read hieroglyphics.

She quickly knelt down to pick them up as soon as the echo was present. She was in a huge room full of things that, according to Atem, would help her find a way back.

Mana believed that they would be maps, or something like that, but she found so many types of information that it was impossible for her to say how many had come to the present.

She finished arranging the papyri at one of the tables and began to read them: «spells for magicians in training», «differences between ka and ba»... A lot of things that she didn't understand and that wouldn't help her passed through her eyes without really pay attention to them.

"If you are looking for a way back, why are you here and not in the map area looking for an effective route to your country?" She heard a male voice.

Mana was startled to hear Atem's voice across the room. Instinctively she smiled at him.

"Atem, you scared me!" she greeted. "I was... Ahm—"

She tried to explain what was happening, but the presence of another person made her stop.

Mahad appeared just when she started talking.

"May I know what kind of trust these are?" he asked and Mana bit her tongue unconsciously.

During that week, Mana had been calling Ouji by his name when they were alone. Of course, the opportunities were really limited and she mostly waited for him to tell her that it was already well.

However, her excitement of seeing him after a whole day had been a little too much to think about it.

And now that she thought about it, why had she been so excited?

"This... Ehm... I meant my _prins? _Yes, I meant that... This —I'm sorry," she apologized after some babbling.

She heard Atem laugh and she and Mahad both looked confused and surprised.

The Prince watched the Priest with a funny smile and shook his head before speaking.

"It's all right, Mahad, I bestowed her my permission," he said.

Mahad raised both eyebrows.

"Really, Prince?" he asked and Atem nodded.

"Yes, just as I have allowed you countless times since I have reason," he replied.

If Mahad was confused, Mana was more. Wasn't there, perhaps, a lot of trust between master and servant? No, now that she saw them more closely, their relationship didn't seem to be entirely that of master-servant. Although she wasn't sure she could keep talking so confidently in front of someone else.

Noticing her inquiring and curious look, Atem smiled at her.

"Mahad has been like a guardian since my mother passed away," he explained without giving Mana time to apologize. "More than a friend, he is almost like an older brother to me; so it's okay. You can trust him."

"Oh, I see." Mana sighed a little relieved.

However, Mahad didn't let her relief last when he asked:

"So?" He said, to which she blinked confused. "What are you doing here, if the map area is not here?"

"Oh ..." She pursed her lips to the side trying to think of an answer that would convince them, although nothing came to mind. "Actually, I think my country is too far away —_both in time and geography, he added in his mind—_ to appear on maps."

Atem looked at her curiously. Mana could understand, since she had agreed to stay, he had asked her many things about where she came from, she had tried to tell him as much as she could without altering the order of things.

Which, incidentally, reminded her that she still didn't know exactly what time she was at.

"So far is it?" He wanted to know.

Mana nodded with a smile.

"Yes, as on the other side of the planet," she teased, although neither Mahad nor Atem seemed to understand when they looked at each other.

Mana blinked as she realized what was said. _Oops. _

"Planet?" Repeated Mahad. "I had never heard that word, what does it mean?"

"Ah, that? That is far away," Mana tried to deflect the subject by moving her hands and laughing awkwardly.

Atem sighed and Mana feared that the boy would think she was a suspect, but instead he just smiled.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "And so? Why are you in this place?"

Mana smiled at the change of subject and looked at all the papyri she had taken and read.

"I just wanted to know," she replied without lying, though she decided not to specify what. "There are so many things I don't know about this place that I just want to learn... odd as that may seem."

There were several seconds of silence in which Mana thought she had ruined it. «Just know» ? What kind of answer was that? She didn't want them to suspect her, but she couldn't say so lightly that she believed that a Cat Goddess had taken her there from the future.

Fearing for her lost credibility, Mana began to think of something else when she saw Atem approach her, or rather one of the shelves behind her.

Stretching out, young Ouji took out a lot of papyri and showed them to her.

"In that case, you should read the records," he smiled. "Here you will find many things about the previous pharaohs and Egypt."

Mana opened her eyes wide. If she could find out what Era she was in, perhaps that would help her.

"Can I really?" She asked hopefully, to which the Prince nodded. "Then could you tell me who—?"

"Ejehm!" Mahad interrupted them with a false throat.

Both Atem and Mana looked at him confused, well, one more worried than the other until they understood why he had intervened in that way. Rushed steps entered the room where they were and a worried Priest Shimon appeared.

"Mahad, Prince, good to find you!" He exclaimed omitting Mana. Mana just rolled her eyes disinterestedly, she understood that not everyone liked her, but even the Priest Seto deigned to look at her instead of just ignoring her presence.

Atem took a step forward giving her the papyrus he had previously taken from Mana and greeted Shimon with a nod, giving him the speech before he asked.

"The Pharaoh requires your presence, my Prince," he said.

"My father?" Atem frowned and Mana felt it slightly uncomfortable, if not worried. "What does he need?"

"Maybe you should go find out, my Prince," Mahad spoke before Shimon could answer. The older priest looked at him with a frown, clearly offended, before nodding according to his words.

"Oh, but—"

Mana felt awkward when Atem hesitated looking at her. And she was more self-conscious when Shimon and Mahad also looked at her. Interestingly, she was not the type of person who was easily ashamed.

"I'll help Manet if that's what worries you, my Prince," Mahad said after understanding why Atem was hesitant.

And, although Mana didn't really feel comfortable with the idea, she nodded so that the Prince would leave calmly.

Atem looked between Mahad and Mana again and again before sighing and atending his father's call. Mana dismissed him with her bandaged hand before seeing him disappear behind the threshold of the door.

A really strange silence settled on the room once she and Mahad were alone, only interrupted by the sound of the papyri that moved every so often. She reached the point where Mana couldn't take it anymore.

"Huh... I wonder why Atem will have been called. Sure is something important, right?" she commented to dispel silence, but only managed to feel humiliated by not getting a prompt response from the priest.

It wasn't until an exact minute after that she heard Mahad's voice.

"I see you have become close to the Prince, Manet," the priest finally spoke.

Mana blinked confused.

"Yes, well..." she couldn't say they had many things in common because they simply never talked about it. The times she had talked to Atem during that week could be counted with the fingers of one hand and the minutes that the conversations they had shared didn't exceed a quarter of an hour, so she understood Mahad's doubts about it. "I guess the only thing I can say is that we got along well..."

Mana looked at one of the papyri only to use it as an excuse when she wasn't even actually reading it. It was true, in those few times they had shared, Mana had felt a connection that she didn't remember feeling before. The mere fact of being with him satisfied her, so talking about tastes and interests had become trivial. They had only talked about Domino City without reaching specifications and what life was like in the palace. Mana had thought many times about telling Atem how she got there, but although the opportunity came at some point, why hadn't she? Why, when she was alone with him, did she lose track of the importance of returning home with Marik and Ishizu?

"Don't do it," Mahad suddenly interrupted the line of her thoughts with a resounding order that Mana didn't quite understand.

"Huh? Don't do what?" she wanted to know.

"If you're going to leave at some point, don't get closer to the Prince than you already are, Manet. If you are real in your actions and intentions, if you estimate him as much as he does, do not let illusions be made."

"Illusions? No, I don't…" Mana expressed her confusion by biting her lip. It was true, what was she doing by becoming a good friend of a Prince she would not see again in her life? "It is not what I planned."

Mahad sighed silently and began ordering the papyri in his hands so Mana assumed to keep them again. She looked confused.

"As you heard, the Prince's mother died when he was very young. He has not been really close to another woman since then, but he has grown up with the idea of faithfulness and devotion to one person since his father has not remarried, much less," Mahad looked her straight in the eye. "Manet, for whatever you want most, don't be more intimate with the Prince."

Mana had no doubt how much Mahad cared for his Prince —for his friend. She had no heart to say she wouldn't, but she also didn't want to stop being Atem's support. She, more than anyone, could understand how much pressure he should feel when he was the only crown prince. Mana had witnessed all the effort Marik had made for her since Ishizu renounced the inheritance.

Doing the same thing as Mahad to keep the papyri she had stopped reading, Mana got up from the seat where she had been to return the old papers to the shelves.

"To all this..." she began saying avoiding Mahad's request. "Who is the current Pharaoh?"

"You don't know?" Mahad frowned.

She smiled.

"I told you I didn't know many things, no?"

Actually she just wanted to make sure of something.

"I see, you don't seem to lie," she denied and he nodded after exhaling. "His name is Aknamkanon, he is appreciated by the people."

Mana's legs trembled without her noticing and soon her knees collided with the ground. Mahad approached worried to see if she was okay.

Mana had no words to respond while her brain processed the newly obtained information. Of course, she had studied it in her university history class. The only Pharaoh who had married only one woman and had only one son, a Pharaoh loved by his people, a Pharaoh who died due to an illness... That Pharaoh could not be other than Aknamkanon, father of the Nameless Pharaoh .

_Wait, but that means_... Mana felt suddenly dizzy and Mahad caught her head before it hit the wall.

Atem was the Nameless Pharaoh and she had said her name was Manet.

Manet, the only beloved woman of the Nameless Pharaoh, who disappeared without a trace after his sacrifice. Of which there were no records, which was a mystery even today.

"Manet?" called Mahad worried.

Mana looked at him with concern. She now understood the mystery of Pharaoh's beloved.

It was a paradox. If she didn't solve it soon, it would be a paradox and the only way to solve it was—

"Mahad, you may not believe me, but I need you to listen to everything I am going to tell you, please," she asked in the most serious tone possible. She hesitated and soon added: "In order not to let Atem suffer, I need you to listen to me."

The Priest looked at her confused, but nodded at her words.

* * *

Atem arrived at his father's side after knocking the huge door a few times. Pharaoh Aknamkanon lay pale on his huge bed when he entered the room.

"Father..." he called to see if he was awake.

It seemed incredible how much his illness had advanced in those few days.

The Pharaoh opened his eyes and blinked slowly before focusing on Atem. He smiled calmly and made an effort to sit down. Atem helped him as he could trying not to stay cold because of his father's condition.

"Son, listen to what I have to tell you. This is a truth that you ought to keep in mind from now on."

Atem frowned.

"What truth, father?" he wanted to know.

With a strong inhalation and subsequent exhalation, Aknamkanon looked at his son severely.

"The truth about Kul Elna, the Millennium Items and the King of Thieves."


	7. VI

**_I do own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

With every word that came from her lips, Mana tried to make everything sound as credible as possible, however, terms like: «when I realized...», or «I come from a distant future», they didn't seem to fit well with her purpose.

Luckily, Mahad didn't try to interrupt her at any time. While his gaze was not one that shouted «I believe you!», it was enough to understand that he was struggling to do so.

"...And I think I've caused a _paradox_ without realizing it," she finished in a long breath.

With concealment, Mana watched Mahad's expression. He was calm and thoughtful, although he didn't seem entirely convinced, there was still some doubt and curiosity that gave Mana a hint of hope.

"_Paradox?"_ repeated Mahad. "It's the first time I hear it."

Mana nodded assuming it would be.

"It means that it is contrary to logic," she explained and took her head in her hands. "Agh! I don't know how it happened. I've been looking for a way to return, but I can't find anything related to what happened to me."

Mahad sighed.

"You say a cat brought you, right?" Mana nodded seeing a slight idea in Mahad's eyes. "I don't know if you know this, but here in Kemet, Goddesses are often represented by felines."

Mana inclined her head.

"I knew cats were important in some way, I mean you lost Memphis and Pelusio for not wanting to hurt the... cats," she was lowering her voice as she told what she knew, earning an even more confused look at Mahad.

"Menfis and Pelusio?" repeated the Priest blinking confused. "But—"

"Forget it!" she waved her hands vigorously to deny what was said while letting out a nervous laugh.

_What are you doing, Mana? Don't talk 500 years in the future!_

Mahad sighed knowingly that he wasn't going to get anything else and leaned his back against the wall. Several ideas about what Manet told him —He meant Mana, crossed his mind. Of course, the first in line was that it was all a huge lie, or a hallucination caused by the heat of Egypt, however Mana seemed burdened enough to think of something like that.

"But if you say that you are not the Manet that the Prince is going to fall in love with, then who is it?" he questioned.

Mana smiled a little funny.

"It's the same question we ask ourselves until... today?" she scratched her cheek trying to think about how that sounded before shaking her head. "Nobody knows. What she is like, who she is, or where she is from. It is a mystery even in the future, but I cannot take its place in the past. We must find it so that everything goes according to the timeline."

"And how will we do it if we only know her name?" Mahad asked, making Mana start thinking again.

"It must not be so difficult!" she exclaimed as she rested her palms on the table. "You and Atem said it was a weird name, right? Few people should have it."

And even if Manet was not from Egypt, there was still the possibility that at some point she would appear. There were also books that said that the Nameless Pharaoh could have met her at a party, or on a walk in the market. Nothing was clear, which left many possibilities open.

_As well as a big job_, added the lazy part of her head.

Hearing Mahad mutter some things in a low voice, Mana waited for the priest to accept what she said.

"..._Hut-hor-Bastet_," the priest said with his eyes looking at some point in the room.

"Huh?"

Mana didn't quite understand the comment, no, she didn't even understand it, but she didn't have time to ask about it when a lot of people started calling everyone's presence to the great royal hall. Mahad nodded to her indicating that they would also go.

Upon joining, a constant murmur rang out in Mana's ears, which caused the blood to freeze for a few seconds. Not only for the news itself, but for what it would entail.

«_The Pharaoh has passed away.» _

And before she knew it, she was already looking for Atem in the crowd inside the palace. Mahad was no longer in her sight and she could swear that around her there were only servants waiting for confirmation of the rumor.

Without thinking about it, she just got out of there.

* * *

His father's hands lay cold and motionless on each side of his body. His eyes were closed and his breathing had stopped, all just after telling him the tragic story about Kul Elna, as if it had been planned from the beginning to be so.

Atem knelt beside his father's bed. He was looking for something. Whatever told him that he was still alive. That he was still there, with him.

However, the only thing he received in response was nothing. There was no longer pain in his expression, neither happiness nor tranquility.

There was nothing.

"My Prince..." Isis called from the door of the room. "We must—"

Atem didn't look back when he interrupted her.

"I know," he said, rising up and enduring the tears that threatened to get out of his eyes.

He didn't need to be told what they should do with the dead. He didn't need to hear what would happen from that moment, or what he would have to do.

He just wanted peace. That nobody bothered him until the day of his coronation arrived.

And he didn't want that day to come.

"I'll be in my room," he said, passing by the priestess without looking at her.

"But my Prince, you must—!"

"Let Seto do it, or Aknadin, or Shimon. Whoever is good."

She didn't have time to reply when he left the room. The echo of the people asking what was happening came to where he was. Even from the windows he could see the peasants gathering to hear the announcement.

And although Atem knew he should be present, it would do no good if he wasn't even paying attention around him.

Say it, or listen to it... Either option would make everything more real and he hadn't even finished assimilating the event.

He couldn't even say goodbye.

His room, more gloomy and lonely than ever, welcomed him with the resounding silence accompanied by the low whistle of the wind.

He put his blue cloak aside and sat on the mattress as if he had the full weight of the world on his shoulders.

Which was not entirely false.

What would he do now? How would he do it?

He had had hundreds of tutorials with Shimon, had accompanied his father in many royal meetings and had even made decisions in his absence, but without him there, it was somehow not the same.

And Atem understood that it never would be.

He covered his face with his hands when he felt his bubbling eyes. He wanted to cry, he had to cry, but doing so was complicated.

He didn't even remember when he had cried for the last time.

A light knock on his doors caught his attention. He frowned when he got up from his bed and walked over to open.

"I thought I said I didn't want to be disturbed," he declared when a brown and ruffled hair peeked through the crack.

Manet ...

She shrinked a little.

"Sorry, can I come in?"

He nodded confused and embarrassed.

How had she got there without being reprimanded? Surely everyone was distracted by the announcement about the Pharaoh.

Then another thought crossed his head. It was the first time that someone who didn't belong to royalty, or serfdom, entered his room.

"Atem, I..." he looked at her. She seemed doubtful about what to say next, but after shaking her head she regained her resolve. "I really feel your loss."

He smiled when he sat back on his mattress.

"Thank you," he said, but she denied.

"No. Don't thank me," he replied, taking a seat next to him. Atem still didn't get used to the confidence she possessed. "I know how much you loved your father and I know how you should be feeling. Don't pretend to be stronger in front of me."

"I'm not—" he tried to refute, but once again Manet interrupted him.

What audacity hers.

A very comforting audacity.

"You totally are! By not crying for his death. By not leaning on your friends when you need them... Atem, now you are the closest person to the Gods, I know, but that doesn't make you one," she said determinedly and emphasizing her words by putting one of her hands on his.

Atem slightly opened his lips looking for something to say, but nothing came out. Nothing about him, at least.

"You speak as if you knew..." he said barely in a whisper, which surprised him.

He felt that if he spoke louder, he would probably break.

Manet nodded slowly without taking her eyes off his.

"When I was just beginning to become aware of myself, my family died in an accident," she began counting. This time, her gaze fell on a point that Atem couldn't reach. "I was adopted by another family, but the parents of that family also died. Do you know that I even thought I had a curse?" she smiled, but the smile didn't reach her ayes. "However my siblings took care of me. My older step-brother, Marik, had to take care of everything without even thinking about leaning on someone, Atem. I was a witness in the front row of how stressed the first months were... And I don't want that to happen with you."

Atem tilted his head.

"Did your brother have to take over an entire kingdom?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Mana laughed a little and denied.

"No, but almost," she looked up at him before doing something that nobody in their right mind would do without consent.

Manet hugged him.

"... And I don't want you to go through the same thing he did," she said softly, almost like a whisper of the wind in his ear.

Atem froze for a few seconds before feeling, once again, the whole weight of the world on him, only this time it affected him.

* * *

Mana knew she shouldn't be doing this.

She shouldn't give him more support. They shouldn't get closer. She shouldn't take the place that Manet should be occupying.

But for now she would take advantage of it. She couldn't leave him alone.

Paradox, or not, she couldn't leave Atem in that state. Not when his light sobs filled her ears and his arms tightened as tightly as if it were the last time they would hug.

Why did she feel she wanted to protect him?

**_ «Have you made a decision, human?» _**

An echo in her head was heard, but the remoteness didn't make it understandable.

Maybe she should have responded at that time, maybe it was good that she ignored it. She wouldn't know even if it was repeated a thousand times more.

Since a warm feeling had taken over her whole being before she realized it. A warm feeling that, without reason or warning, seized him too.

Because suddenly, or not, they both felt that they didn't want or should be anywhere else.


	8. VII

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

After the death of Pharaoh Aknamkanon, Egypt was in mourning.

Everything in the palace was just as tiring and busy as before, but the silence that reigned only interrupted by the sound of objects being cleaned or fixed ended up being deafening.

During the two days it took to finish the preparations for Atem's trip on the Nile River, for some reason he refused to let Mana walk alone through the palace, forcing her, somehow, to abandon her search among the papyri of something that could help her come back.

She didn't care much, after all, even if he was busy, Mahad assured her that he would take care of whatever she was looking for.

That was how she was now resting on one of the outer columns of the palace watching Atem lead the servants to the boat that would take him on his trip.

Mana had read some time ago about the crowning ceremony of a Pharaoh. The successor to the throne embarked on a journey across the Nile River in search of the blessing of the Gods and then held the celebration at the beginning of a new season.

All that lasted the same amount of time it took the mummification of the previous Pharaoh with all —or most of his property.

Mana sighed.

There wasn't much to do and for a long time she was listening to a couple of maids talk about her as "the Prince's pet."

She understood that she had somehow become closer to Atem the night of his father's death. It was not exactly her goal, but it happened.

That same night, when Mana prepared to leave the room, she had the slight feeling that something was wrong and it wasn't because Mahad caught her on her way to her room. There was something else... Mana felt something was being overlooked, but as much as she tried to remember what, she simply couldn't recall it.

"Manet," her pseudo name pulled her out of her thoughts faster than other times, surprising her.

It was the person she was thinking about.

"Ouji," she greeted with a smile waiting for the rest of the people around them to stop watching her as if she had put a potion on their ruler's breakfast.

Oh, now she understood where the rumor had come from.

"Can we go around the palace? I would like to talk to you about something," the Prince asked.

Mana smiled. He could be the next almighty Pharaoh, but he still asked for things instead of simply giving orders.

"Sure, but is it going to be okay?" she asked, looking past Atem's shoulders, where the Priest Seto stood watching them with folded arms and an indecipherable expression.

Confused, Atem looked at the same place, but just smiled.

"You mean Seto?" she nodded. "I think so, he must be embittered because he has to run the kingdom in my place. He may be the highest priest and my cousin, but he doesn't enjoy being so in command."

Mana opened her eyes to the new information.

"Is he your cousin? I didn't know it!" she exclaimed, although perhaps she had to conclude that they had blood relation.

After all, Seto was the one who took the throne after the sacrifice of the Nameless Pharaoh.

Mana's expression fell after remembering that. She couldn't help what was going to happen, but it saddened her anyway.

And now that she thought about it, it also confused her. Had she read anything about that? She couldn't remember it exactly beyond the general.

Why had he sacrificed himself? Against whom? How did he become the "Nameless Pharaoh" if she knew his name and was almost 100% sure that the priests also knew it?

"Manet," she lifted her head again, realizing that she had spaced in her thoughts for a long time. "Shall we go?"

She nodded and they entered the huge building. None was aware of who was watching them from a distance.

* * *

The gray-haired thief looked from the distance to the future Pharaoh next to a strange woman.

Who was that woman? As far as he knew, the Prince hadn't announced the arrival of any concubine, much less a wife.

He smiled sideways. He really didn't care. Anyone who had to do with the royal family would pay for the crimes committed by it. Without exception, just as his people had had to pay for their ambitions.

Bakura clenched his hands into fists until he felt his nails digging into the skin. He wanted revenge.

He would have it.

* * *

"So... did you want to talk to me about something?" Mana commented to make conversation topic.

They had been walking for a few minutes and, although Atem's presence was certainly enough as a company, she couldn't help feeling restless about the silence.

Atem nodded looking straight ahead.

"Yes, tomorrow, if not today later, I will begin my journey through the waters of the river," he explained.

Mana looked away. It would be impolite to say that she already knew, so she chose to say a simple "oh...".

"We won't see each other for a long time, I will increase security measures both inside and outside the palace, Seto will be in charge, but I asked Mahad to take care of you while I'm away," now that she thought about it, it was the first time the Prince talked too much. "Once I return, my coronation ceremony will begin, but there are certain requirements that I cannot ignore as is the case of marriage—" Atem stopped and Mana was forced to turn around so as not to turn her back.

They eyes met for an endless five seconds before the next Pharaoh sighed.

"I must stop blabbering," he said as if he were speaking alone, confusing her.

"Hm?"

Once again, Atem looked into her eyes.

"Manet, I need to marry someone, or at least declare a first concubine to be able to ascend the throne without problems."

Mana swallowed fearing what he would say next.

* * *

Atem knew he was risking a lot. He didn't want to scare Manet, but he didn't have many options.

"W-Why are you talking about this?" she asked, although from her stuttering, Atem could tell she already imagined it.

She didn't seem very happy, but scared and confused.

What hurt him, somehow.

No, it hurt him more than he imagined.

"Manet, more than a commoner or foreigner, I consider you a friend," he confessed after serious thought. "More than that, even if we know each other for only a week, I can say that I trust you just as you trust me enough to talk about equals. And I need someone to trust to make her my wife."

She took a half step back and shook her head while gesturing with her hands.

" No, no, no. Atem —I mean, Ouji, I don't —I can't marry you. I have no royal blood, I'm not even a native and besides us —I can't. We can not."

Atem frowned. While he understood Manet's reasons, there seemed to be something else.

The memory of their first conversation came to his mind.

"Is it because of your brother Marik?" he asked.

She shook her head again.

"It has nothing to do with him!" she exclaimed loudly, as if she didn't even want to mention him. "There are certain circumstances... The thing is, I can't be your wife, Atem. I told you that I must return to where I came from."

"And you also said you would support me, remember?" he replied and in a quick move, he took her hands in his.

Manet tensed, but didn't move away.

"I won't force you to answer now, you must first be a concubine, but I ask you to think about it, please," he swallowed, trying not to look for any answer in her gaze. Then he decided to give her something he had been keeping for a long time.

* * *

Mana held the necklace in her hands. It was gold with a red gem adorning it in the middle.

Simple compared with other jewelry, but beautiful.

Now she was alone in the middle of one of the gardens, watching a couple of birds play with each other.

Atem had already left.

She tightened the accessory.

_«This belonged to my mother and I kept it even when they had to bury it in her grave. Keep it while you think about your answer.»_

How unfair, she thought. He could force her to stay. Force her to love him. But he still didn't. He still gave her the option to choose.

How to refuse that? How to say «no» to something she really wanted?

_NO!_

"Manet!"

She shook her head and put away the necklace when she heard someone calling.

It was Mahad.

She sighed silently and smiled calmly when the priest was just under two meters away.

"Mahad, is anything the matter?" she asked.

He blinked a few times, perhaps noticing the knot in her throat, before exhaling.

"I think I have an idea how you got here," he said.

Mana's lips opened slightly to the surprise, although she wasn't as excited as she thought she would be.

"Really?"

The priest nodded.

"Her name is _Bastet_," he said. "She is the protective Goddess of Bubastis and Hut-hor's daughter."

"Oh... Huh?"

Mana was confused to hear so many unknown words and thanked the heavens how patient Mahad turned out to be in cases like these.

"I don't think Bastet has come for you of her own accord, but by the command of her mother."

If she did remember correctly, the two Goddesses were related to Artemis and Aphrodite, respectively, in Greek mythology.

"Why? Why would Hut-hor send her daughter for me? Why did they want me?" she wanted to know.

Mahad's calm expression wasn't disturbed at all. Instead he just kept his gaze on Mana, as if the answer was too obvious even for her.

"I can imagine a reason, but..." there were a few seconds of silence, which Mana didn't understand. "Do you really want to go back to your time?"

Mana opened her mouth ready to affirm it, but the words didn't even come out. Everything remained in a simple exhalation when she began to analyze everything in her mind.

She wanted to stay.

She wanted to stay?

She wanted to leave.

She wanted to leave?

She wanted Atem...

She wanted him?

_No! No, no, no!_

She clenched her lips to the point of almost feeling like it was hurting. She had to remove those ideas from her mind.

"You must find the real Manet," she whispered so low that if the wind had gone in the opposite direction, Mahad wouldn't have heard her.

She couldn't stay. She didn't belong to that time. Paradox, or not, she had to leave and she had to find a way to do it. She had to go back to Marik and Ishizu, right?

That was her decision.

**_«I understand, human. Then it will be so.»_**

_Huh?_

Mana looked everywhere.

"Are you okay?" asked Mahad worriedly.

"Didn't you just—?"

But she couldn't continue talking when a figure appeared in front of both.

Mahad stood guard and was about to call the guards when he suddenly fell unconscious.

"Mahad?!"

**_«He's just asleep, human.» _**

Mana looked at the figure. In the dim light, she could gradually differentiate its silhouette.

High, stylized... and with a cat's head.

"You are—?" she asked.

The figure nodded solemnly.

**_«Since you've made your decision, there's no need to waste more time. You will return to your time and continue with your life as before.»_**

"W-Wait a second!" Mana demanded without worrying about being respectful or not. "I can't leave just like that! I have to talk to Atem and explain—"

**_«What good would that make, human? As I understood it, you didn't want to cause any paradox beyond what you already are.»_**

"But—!"

It didn't feel good. She didn't feel that way at all. Even if she wanted to leave, she wanted to see Atem one last time, she wanted—

_I wanted to say "goodbye"..._

Then, without realizing it as the first time, she fell into deep darkness.

* * *

Everything around her was loud. Her head ached and she didn't want to be aware of the fact that she had woken up.

But it was and she was forced to open her eyes when she heard her name.

Her real name.

"Mana? Mana, what a relief!"

Mana swallowed.

"I-Ishizu?"

The image of her older stepsister gradually became more visible, seemed exhausted, but at the same time incredibly happy.

Mana sat on the bed she was in. Her bed. And that was her room.

She was back, she supposed, but was she really? Because something didn't feel really good.

_True_, she recalled when Marik entered her room with worry etched in his expression. _I wanted to see him..._

_I _want_ to see him..._

Then she lay back down with her eyes closed.

_Atem..._


	9. ARC II: WRONG TIME INTERLUDE

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

He remembered the day she disappeared.

Also the day she returned.

Their parents moved heaven and earth to find her, but during those two days there wasn't even a trace that she had existed beyond what they knew.

He wasn't more than eleven years old, but he understood the anguish and pain that his parents experienced.

As well as the joy of when she was found unconscious in the front garden of their home.

Happiness. Frustration. Concern. All mixed in a whirlwind of emotions that in the end all ended up the same: relief.

Until now, he had never thought about why his parents had adopted this girl, but he was glad that they had. Now, both he and Ishizu had no more momentum in their life than Mana's smile.

There were no more black days like those two. At least not so far, that everything seemed to be repeated.

The mysterious disappearance. Her return after two days. Her unconscious state.

And that name that she pronounced in dreams and that now was difficult for him to remember.

He remembered that his father had asked her several times about that name.

"Was he African, or from the Middle East?" "Did you meet someone with that name?" "Would you recognize him?" "Do you remember who, or what he looks like?"

But Mana simply had no words. She didn't even remember saying it at some point in her unconsciousness, or seeing him in a dream. She seemed lost and disoriented. As if everything had been part of an illusion.

In the end she was diagnosed with a temporary amnesia due to the trauma, if she really had it.

Did she have a trauma?

So horrible she couldn't remember it?

Before that, he decided not to question her, he only accepted it and swore to protect her so that her smile wouldn't disappear again. However, now that they were in the same position as their parents, both he and Ishizu asked themselves the same questions: had she really disappeared? Was she gone? Or had someone kidnapped her?

It couldn't be coincidence.

Sitting, or rather leaning on the edge of the window, Marik watched with crossed arms his unconscious younger stepsister on the mattress of her room, remembering what had happened so long ago.

The strange clothes, the archaically cured cut in her left hand... Now that he was in his parents' position, he was asking himself the same questions over and over again.

"How long do you think she stays that way?" asked Ishizu entering the room.

Both alternated the moments in which they took care of her, although Marik wouldn't mind staying longer.

He took a deep breath.

"A whole day has passed. I don't think she wake up soon, or at least today."

His older sister nodded. Her slightly frown told him that something was bothering her.

"Is it our fault?" she asked. "Do you think she—?"

Marik watched her sister in silence for a few seconds before smiling a little and placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him.

"No. I don't think so. She is not that kind of girl and you know it. Whatever happened, she will tell us when she wakes up."

Ishizu nodded before running her fingers through her eyes.

"I suppose you will delay preparations for your marriage, uh..."

"I think it would be the best."

A sigh and a look at Mana later, Ishizu nodded slightly again. Marik understood that perhaps the idea wasn't to her liking as for him, but both had long understood, exactly twelve years ago, that losing Mana was not an option.

Not one to be happy, at least. For their parents and for themselves.

"I'll go find my cell phone, it must be one of the archaeologists, I'll be back in a moment," Ishizu said when they heard the familiar sound of her mobile phone upon receiving a call.

Marik nodded and soon became the only one accompanying Mana again.

Already when he heard Ishizu going up the stairs, he remembered that he should call Serenity to tell her about Mana's state and began heading for the exit of the room.

"_Atem_..."

He stopped his steps just as he took the door knob and looked at her again. It had been barely a whisper. A sigh. But he had heard it.

His sister was not that kind of girl, right?

She was not gone, right?

But very apart from the thoughts that began to fill his mind, one especially stood out from all.

He had heard that name before.


	10. VIII

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

The first thing she knew when she woke up and looked around her room, was that she finally had some time alone.

The second thing she knew by leaning on the window and seeing Domino City, was that something had changed.

They weren't the headlights of light turned on in the afternoon, nor the facades of the houses, or the shops around. In appearances, everything remained the same as she remembered, even her room had the same arrangements and decorations she had made, but appearances were always deceiving. For some reason her brain stuck strongly to that motto.

"Mana!" she was startled by her step-sister's voice.

Turning around, Mana faced Ishizu.

"Ishizu? You scared me," she commented with a smile, but her sister's expression didn't change at all.

Instead she took a deep breath and placed her hands on her hips implying that she was calming herself.

"The one who has given a fright has been you," she replied with a frown. "What are you doing there? You should be resting."

Mana raised an eyebrow and smiled strangely. She'd been there since she returned and, as she understood, had been unconscious for a couple of days.

She didn't need more rest.

"And you should relax," she said, walking to her side. "I've been on that bed for a long time, my muscles get bored and I feel like I'm getting fat. It isn't as if I were sick, or invalid."

Finally, after sharing a long look of «we both know it», Ishizu sighed and it was she who sat on the bed.

"I know, I know," she said, running her hands over her face. 'It's just that I feel that if I take my eyes off you again, you—"

"I'm not leaving," she interrupted with determination.

"I know."

This time it was Mana who sighed before turning her eyes to the window. She understood her siblings' concern, she hadn't even explained what happened and she didn't think she would ever do it.

In the reflection of the transparent glass, almost invisible and not very colorful, she observed herself discreetly.

The clothes she wore were a normal pajamas, with pants and nightgowns perfect for autumn. Mana had no idea what had happened to the clothes of ancient Egypt and had not asked, the only thing that worried her was the necklace of Atem's mother.

Her left hand was better treated, but according to the doctor who checked it earlier, there would still be a scar.

The same graduate was surprised at the injury. Not only because it seemed to have more than a week, but because both Ishizu and Marik had insisted she didn't have it before the party a few days ago.

That surprised Mana at first. Maybe ten days had passed for her, but only two for her brothers.

Mana pursed her lips.

She concluded that for her, time had advanced about five times faster and somehow she was grateful, since with these only days they had been full of anguish and concern.

But she was back, that was the best, right?

The paradox would disappear and Atem would know the real Manet.

It was the best, right?

She swallowed.

She didn't feel it that way.

She wondered how much time had already passed in ancient Egypt. If Mahad had already woken up and asked about her.

"Mana," she looked up from her many seconds of silence, "are you all right?"

She nodded and turned to lean her back against the wall. Ishizu had regained her composure.

"Yes, yes, it's just that I —" she swallowed. "I'm tired, you know? Maybe I should go back to bed, after all."

Ishizu shook her head affirmatively and got up from the bed so Mana could lie down, but she didn't leave the room. Mana stirred a little awkwardly under her sister's watch. She knew that both, she and Marik, alternated shifts to take care of her, although it was no longer necessary, she couldn't find the words to make them understand.

At least they weren't demanding explanations. She hoped she could create something for when—

"Mana!" the door of her room swung open and two figures appeared.

Mana didn't have time to prepare when two thin arms hugged her so tightly she almost lost her breath.

"Serenity, I told you to be careful," she heard Marik speak as he raised his hands as if Mana would break into pieces at any moment.

Mana frowned. Serenity?

The red-haired girl separated from her just to face Marik with an angry pout.

"Mana is not going to break, you know! Besides, I'm very excited after you didn't let me see her since she came back," she exclaimed.

Marik put a hand to his forehead.

"And why do you think it was?" he sighed.

_Ok_... Mana told herself. Since when did she and Serenity hug like this? Why was there so much familiarity?

In a sidelong, Mana watched Serenity's left hand, the ring finger to be precise, the ring shone too well.

Serenity suddenly moved her hands making Mana think she had noticed, however the redhead took her hands in hera and looked her straight in the eye.

"I've been very worried, Mana. When Marik told me that you disappeared, I —Oh, I didn't know what I was going to do without my best friend!" she pulled her toward her and again wrapped her arms around her.

Huh?

She looked at Ishizu and Marik looking for something in their eyes that told her it was a joke or something, but no. There was nothing but strange fun in their expressions.

"Serenity, Mana needs to rest," Ishizu said calmly as she drove the redhead away from Mana. The girl tried to protest, but immediately stopped when Marik laid his hands on her arms.

Once again, Mana blinked confused. It was so –It wasn't cold. There was warmth in his actions and in his looks.

"Why don't you buy something for dinner?" Ishizu suggested and shot Mana an accomplice.

She looked at her and then looked at the couple before nodding understanding.

"Yes! I've been wanting a pizza for a while!" she exclaimed.

"Then we will go!" Serenity replied with a very sweet smile, so much that Mana felt she didn't deserve it in any way.

The look that Marik and Ishizu shared didn't go unnoticed. Mana bit her lower lip when she understood what would happen now.

Once the couple left, Ishizu went in search of a chair and took a seat next to Mana.

The silence that surrounded them really disturbed Mana's mental health.

And it wasn't until after what seemed like hours that Ishizu opened her mouth again.

"Mana, I think it's time for you to talk," she said.

Mana swallowed.

"Talk? About what?"

Her attempt to fake confusion only made Ishizu sigh, but she didn't bother.

"Mana, you disappeared during Marik's engagement announcement. You weren't anywhere and you came back two days later, unconscious and wearing strange clothes."

"Strange clothes?" Mana repeated, maybe... "What are you talking about?"

Ishizu got up from her seat and went to the closet, from which she pulled —from as deep as possible —a pile of wrinkled fabrics. Mana made a move to get up, but as soon as she moved the bedspreads, Ishizu threw everything back into the closet.

Luckily, Mana could hear the sound of something heavier knocking against the wooden base of the furniture.

The necklace.

"Mana," Ishizu looked at her pleadingly, approaching again. "We aren't going to get angry. If someone forced you to do something you didn't want—"

Mana's brain began to machine with speed. Ishizu and Marik were getting the wrong idea of everything and she didn't want to worry them anymore, however she needed time.

So, as help from the Gods...

"Your cell phone," Mana interrupted.

"Huh?" Ishizu blinked and the familiar ringtone on her phone was heard through the walls of their home. She heard her curse under her breath. "In a moment I come back."

Mana smiled. It was fortunate that her sister wasn't one of the women who were attached to their mobile phones.

_One moment_, Mana frowned when she got up from the bed and went to the closet.

In fact, her work with KC had turned her in those women.

She shook the head thinking that it was likely because of her recent concern and opened the closet doors.

The clothes that Mahad and Isis had given her were dusty and wrinkled, but even with all that and the darkness of the gloom, Mana could see the glow of the red gem between the piled up cloth.

She quickly took the object back and ran to her bed hiding it under the pillows.

No one had bothered to check the hidden pockets of that dress.

A few seconds after returning to its original position, Ishizu re-entered the room with an expression that shouted «tired!» In her gaze.

"Busy?" Mana asked. With a little more luck, she would change the topic and Ishizu would let her go through the rest of the night.

Her older sister nodded, running her fingers over the bridge of her nose.

"Yes, we have lost many archaeologists in the search for ancient articles. I'm seriously considering leaving that project aside, or I will have to go to Egypt myself," she shook his head.

Mana slightly opened her lips without realizing it.

"Huh? Hadn't they already been found?" she asked, bewildered.

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

It didn't matter that something in her brain told her to stop. It didn't matter that Ishizu's expression was really confused, or that she simply shouldn't speak.

She just kept doing it, looking for a way in which everything she remembered didn't seem part of a dream, or an illusion.

"Of course, with the help of Seto Kaiba, he gave you the same necklace as Isis —I mean, the Millennium Necklace."

"Ahm..." Ishizu smiled, but lifted his head. "Who?"

"Seto Kaiba!" Mana insisted. "Kaiba Corporations' CEO, your future husband and father of your child," Mana pointed to her sister's abdomen.

Ishizu didn't respond right away and Mana's heart began to pound more loudly resonating in her ears and taking away her speech.

Her sister bit her lips.

"Have you been dreaming? I don't know any CEO, I don't plan to get married soon, leave that to Marik, and I'm definitely not pregnant," she declared more severely. "Mana, do you really feel good? You're worrying me."

Worried?

Mana was the one who was worried.

"So... what about Solomon Mutō?" she wanted to know.

Ishizu frowned. How many times had she done it already?

"Mr. Solomon?" she repeated slowly. "Mana, what's up with you? Mr. Solomon passed away with our parents twelve years ago in the same way... Are you alright?"

_That can't be... _

Mana put her hands to her face and felt Atem's mother's collar against her lower back.

To return had been the best, right?

_Right? _


	11. IX

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

It hadn't been the best. Definitely returning hadn't been the best.

Mana's head kept turning to the same idea since she left her home convincing Marik and Ishizu that she would answer each of their calls —which were not few.

Last night Mana had successfully diverted the issue about her disappearance until Marik and Serenity returned with a disgustingly vegetarian pizza.

She was safe for that night, however it would be a lie to say she could sleep peacefully.

She didn't even sleep thinking about what she had talked with her sister and ended up making the decision to visit Yūgi's shop to verify what was said.

She took the same path. She walked through the same streets and observed the same people, but when she arrived where her friend's shop and home was supposedly...

Nothing. _Kame Game_ wasn't anywhere. There was no store, there was no house. Mana was beginning to hyperventilate.

Her head, her feelings and her thoughts, everything was chaos inside her as she tried to calm down by tightening the strap on her purse.

She swallowed.

Why had so many things changed? Why had she had to interfere in the past?

She shook her head feeling the cold and wet wind crashing against her cheeks and messing up her hair.

_I took Mr. Solomon's life_.

_The baby never existed. Ishizu's happiness has disappeared and she doesn't even know it._

Now she didn't know what to do exactly. Returning should have been the right thing. Bastet told her that everything would be as before.

What had gone wrong?

"Mana? What are you doing here?" she heard a familiar voice.

Turning on its axis, Mana looked up at a tricolor-haired boy with short stature.

"Yū-Yūgi?" she asked. The boy nodded half confused. "God, you are well! At least nothing happened to you!"

She almost ran to hug him for so much relief that ran through her body. However she stopped when she saw another taller figure coming to his side.

She was a girl with short brown hair and gray-blue eyes.

"Yūgi, what happens?" she asked before looking towards Mana. "Mana? Nice we find you, we were just going to see how you were."

Mana didn't know how to react to that. Did they know each other? It seemed that yes, in fact she was slightly familiar, but from where?

"Ahm..."

The girl blinked worried.

"Wait, are you feeling well? You're pale," she approached her side. Let's go to Yūgi's house, is closer."

Mana nodded, holding her bag so she wouldn't fall and walked to the side of the well-known-stranger looking at Yūgi sideways.

The almost homologous Atem had his hands in his pockets and a scarf around his neck, in which he hid the lower half of his face.

Mana couldn't help imagining Atem in the same way, but shook her head as soon as the thought went through her head.

That's impossible.

The new Mutō house wasn't far from where _Kame Game_ used to be in Mana's memories, it was even a little closer to her home, but that didn't satisfy her at all.

The house was similar to what Mana remembered: two floors, dining room, living room, the only thing that was far enough away was the altar made with an image of Solomon in the middle. There were a couple of incenses lit and a pot with white daisies.

The smell made Mana nauseous and the altar itself disturbed her.

"Sit here, I'll get some tea," said the short-haired girl, pushing her by the shoulders and treating the house as if it were her own instead of Yūgi's.

"Téa, I think I—" tried to object the little boy, but the one named Téa denied.

"I will," she declared entering the kitchen.

Mana clenched her hands on her knees once she was alone with Yūgi and within a few seconds a fleeting memory appeared in her mind.

_«So you don't have any girl you like, Yūgi? You are gay?»_

_«O-Of course not! Yes, I do! It's just that she lives in the United States. She is trying her luck as a dancer.»_

_«Really? Then tell me her name.»_

_«Téa. Her name is Téa Gardner, although she likes—»_

She looked up with a funny smile. Yūgi expressed his confusion with a frown.

"What?"

"Hey... So she's Téa Gardner," Mana commented using that kind of annoying tone that always bothered him. "I thought you would never introduce her to me."

"Huh? What are you talking about? You know her since we entered high school, don't you?" he asked. "And why that tone?"

Mana blinked a couple of times. Again confused, again missed, again talking about more.

"Hey, ah, yes, yes,... No, nothing," she sighed after her clumsy babbling.

However Yūgi's sigh caught her attention. That was a good thing, right? The girl he liked was in the same country, she had never left...

If she counted Marik and Serenity's relationship, they were already two good things, right?

The score was tied for her mental health.

After a few minutes, Téa returned with a tray in her hands and three cups of tea. She took a seat next to Yūgi and smiled at Mana to take one.

"How well you know this house," Mana commented as a joke.

She didn't lose the blush of the girl.

"Huh? You think?" She asked, throwing slight glances at Yūgi.

Which he didn't seem to notice when he replied:

"Well, we've known each other since we were kids, it's normal."

Mana almost spit the infusion when she heard Yūgi's really uninterested tone. Since when so much security in his words?

It sounded so strange —and ridiculous— coming from him.

Was that also an effect?

"Why do you look at me like that?" asked her friend.

"Hm? Well... I'm thinking of something," she confessed without giving details. This new Yūgi intimidated her somehow.

She preferred the previous one. Not only because this reminded her of the _Pharaoh-to-be_ mode of Atem.

"Speaking of thinking about something," Téa continued, drawing the attention of both of them, "how is your project going? Are you going to ask for more time because of—?" she looked at Mana.

Yūgi sighed and also looked at her.

"What do you say? We need more time?"

She denied.

"Nah. We already have the project done, right? Asking more time for my fault would only be a problem," she said.

Téa looked at Yūgi with her head lifted, he nodded.

"If you say so... Well, the story of the Nameless Pharaoh isn't very complicated or long. Actually it was easy to divide the topics to investigate and that."

"Aha..." she didn't finish recording his words when she finished drinking her tea.

With an exaggerated sigh, Téa looked at her.

"Oh... how lucky are you both to share classes..." she complained.

Mana laughed.

"Well, I don't think a dancer needs to know about history," she commented with a smile.

But far from receiving a laugh, or even a nod, Téa suddenly got up picking up the cups and went into the kitchen arguing that she was going to wash.

Yūgi sighed.

"Huh? Did I say something wrong?" Mana asked.

He shrugged.

"This being unconscious for a couple of days has melted your brain, or what?"

Auch

"Huh?" Mana would have responded to the insult if it wasn't because she was really curious.

Yūgi had told her how good Téa was dancing. That she would surely fulfill her dream of dancing on Broadway. She doubted that would have changed.

"You already forgot?" he asked and Mana could only look down. After hearing him breathe deeply, he continued: "Téa had an accident years ago, which caused her an injury. She can't dance a half routine. Don't even think about a complete musical."

Mana parted her lips, glancing at the kitchen.

Téa didn't get out of there again.

* * *

Both Yūgi and Mana, after a call from Marik, thought it would be the best for her to leave. She said goodbye to Téa from the living room, not daring to look at her, and left the Mutō's home to wait for Yūgi, who had gone up to his room in search of another coat to accompany her.

Just the moment she crossed the fence, a man entered. She stopped not knowing him.

"Oh, how are you, Mana? Are you feeling better?" asked the man in question.

Once again, Mana was completely unable to know who he was.

"This—Yes," she replied simply.

The man smiled at her.

"Well, tell your siblings that I send greetings," he entered the Mutō house and it was then that Mana heard Yūgi speaking.

"Hello, Dad," Yūgi said, leaving his home.

Mana looked at him from afar.

Dad? Weren't his parents separated? And didn't his dad have another family?

"Let's go?" Yūgi asked, though he didn't even bother to wait for her.

She caught up to him.

"So your father, huh..." she commented slightly more carefully than before.

"Don't tell me you don't remember him. He only left for a couple of weeks," replied her friend, putting his hands in his pockets and looking at her with intrigue. "Mana, whatever happened to you, are you sure it didn't affect your head?"

"So rude!" Mana complained earning a discreet smile of the boy, although she didn't try to deny the said thing.

Maybe it was better for them to think that way.

She sighted. Mana felt that for every good thing that happened, a bad one appeared.

And she had no idea how the rest of the world would be if only the life of her relatives had changed like this.

The minutes it took to travel the rest of the way were silent. For the only time it didn't bother Mana.

Just when they reached the front of her home, Mana could smell the delicious roast escaping from the windows.

"See you," Yūgi said goodbye, turning around.

"Oh wait!" and Mana stopped him without thinking about it.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and no unusual expression.

No unusual expression for this Yūgi.

"What's going on?" he wanted to know.

"Ehm... When can we present the assignment? Do we really need nothing else?"

He looked at the sky for a few seconds, perhaps recalling everything they had worked on so far. He ran a finger over his chin and denied.

"We have everything done. We can present it tomorrow if you have no problem with your siblings."

Mana nodded.

"I don't think I have it. This grade is important, after all," she sighed.

Yūgi nodded and started his way again, however...

"Yūgi."

"Hm?" he looked at her again.

Mana babbled a little before speaking. She didn't know how he would take it and she was afraid to get to touch a nerve.

"It will sound strange and sudden, but..." she looked at him. "Do you miss your grandpa?"

Yūgi was silent watching her, perhaps looking for some hint of a joke, but Mana remained serious, oddly enough.

He sighted.

"You know I don't blame your parents for what happened," he said and she refrained from interrupting him with an «Eh?» when he smiled. It was a small smile, barely a line, and it wasn't happy. "Of course I miss him. He was like my idol when I was six years old."

And then Mana let him go, standing alone in front of the door of her house.

It started to rain.

One drop, another drop... She was getting soaked enough to say she had taken a shower.

If for every good thing, a bad one appeared, how many more good things and more bad things would have to appear?

Which part was good and which part was bad?

Mana didn't want to know.


	12. X

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

_Ishizu's dream life._

_The relationship of Marik and Serenity._

_Her friendship with Serenity._

_The life of Mr. Solomon._

_Téa's injury —her stay in Domino City._

_Yūgi's parents._

_Mr. Mutō's other family._

_Yūgi's confidence. _

If Mana was trying to concentrate, she didn't succeed at all. Formally dressed and eating her nails, she waited for Yūgi at the entrance of the university, although she didn't stop exactly.

"You seem worried," Marik commented, leaning back in the driver's seat.

Mana looked at him. So much had been his insistence on accompanying her that she had to reluctantly accept before she was forbidden to leave.

"I am," she declared, leaving her hands on her lap, where a navy blue briefcase rested, although her fingers didn't leave the restless state.

She had fallen asleep the day before recalling every fact changed since she returned; however, her overwhelming thoughts continued even the next day.

"Relax, you'll be fine. Egypt has always been one of your favorite subjects. You know it backwards and right," her stepbrother smiled.

Mana blinked a couple of times before nodding. She had forgotten that they weren't talking about the same subject.

She looked back through the window just to find her beardly-haired friend across the street in terno.

"Oh, there is Yūgi!" said Mana, opening the car door.

A slight beep sounded and went out as soon as she closed the door again.

Marik leaned out the window.

"I'll come for you," he said without giving claims a choice.

She sighed before continuing on her way. There was no point in arguing.

"You look good," she said, reaching for her friend.

Yūgi smiled.

"Same."

Many corridors, floors and stairs later —Mana had a _déjà vu_—, they finally arrived at the classroom where the professors who would judge their investigation waited.

Mana looked at the clock on her left wrist and then through the classroom window. It was too dark to be 10 am.

She attributed it to autumn before nodding and encouraging herself mentally.

The group that exhibited before them finished in a while after their arrival and soon the teachers found themselves looking for the next one on the list.

"Ishtar and Mutō. Come in, please," said one of the teachers.

It was a man somewhat older than the rest, with gray hair and mustache, as well as lighter and wrinkled skin.

"Thank you very much, Professor Hawkins," Yūgi said with a slight bow.

Mana imitated it quickly.

Professor Hawkins was an old friend of the Mutō family, she knew it from the original Yūgi, although the one she knew was in the United States with her cheerful granddaughter.

She didn't want to know why he was here.

Yūgi started talking about the introduction and the context of their research. Although Mana seemed to hear it, the truth was that she couldn't be more distracted.

If they obtained a good grade in this investigation, it was very likely that they could have good recommendations, as well as advances in the years of practice.

Then it was her turn to speak.

"Throughout the history of the world, there have been many women who stood out for different reasons. However, little is said about how women were in ancient Egypt. Unlike Greece, for example, women were allowed to study and even have high positions such as Queen's, or priestess. Although they were not recognized as equal to man, but as their complement."

"There is, for example, Nefertari, who was not only the beloved wife of the great Ramses II, but a true woman of State, who led to the cessation of hostilities between Egypt and the Hittite Empire. Or one less known, the princess and later Queen Berenice IV, who exiled her own father, Ptolemy XII, for the sake of the kingdom of Egypt. However, today we will not talk about well-known, or less known, but about someone whose name is known only, Manet, the only beloved of the Nameless Pharaoh..."

Mana explained everything she had managed to find about Manet. It wasn't much, but she hoped it was enough.

"So you think Manet was very important to the Nameless Pharaoh?" asked one of the professors.

Mana shared a look with Yūgi and, after a nod from her, she was the one who took the floor when responding.

"Yes. She did not stop a future war, or ruled alone after her husband's departure, but it was certainly a boost for his decision making."

The teachers were silent for a few seconds before whispering among themselves. Mana looked at Yūgi with a frown in worry and confusion, but he only gave her an indecipherable look.

"Miss Ishtar, Mr. Mutō, one last question," said one of the professors. Both nodded. "What do you think about the Nameless Pharaoh?"

"Huh?"

"It's just a question, don't get too complicated," a teacher advised.

Once again, Yūgi and Mana looked at each other.

"The Nameless Pharaoh..." Mana took a breath. "Although he inherited the charge by obligation and suddenly after the death of his father, he was a man loved and respected by his people and his priests. He was strict, but he cared enough for his people to closely monitor a dangerous man and protect a defenseless civilian. His mandates were heard and only those who knew him closely could speak to him as if he were an equal. His time of government was not very long due to the appearance of the Thief King Bakura, since he had to sacrifice himself for the sake of his kingdom, although the exact details are unknown. His love was only given to Manet, it isn't known if they really got married, but they did not conceive any heir anyway, so after his sacrifice, the one who took charge was his cousin, the high priest Seto—"

"Miss Ishtar," Professor Hawkins interrupted.

Mana stopped abruptly and looked at the professor before looking at Yūgi, who had a much more surprised expression, but wasn't directed towards the professors, but at her.

She got nervous.

"We liked your research on women in Egypt, however we have some doubts about your research in the context of your main topic," said the old man. "That questions the veracity and authenticity of your project."

Mana frowned. Atem, the Nameless Pharaoh, was well known. She herself had lived almost his story. How could she be wrong about something?

And they accused her of plagiarism?!

"The information in our investigation is well documented!" she objected.

"While Manet was a boost for the Nameless Pharaoh," Professor Hawkins continued without paying much attention to her words. His appearance as a good-natured grandfather was only to appear, according to Mana's point of view. "It wasn't a good one exactly."

Mana looked at him in bewilderment.

"What does it mean?" she asked after a few seconds.

"As you said, Manet came to the life of the Pharaoh, he fell in love and proposed marriage before his coronation giving her a really beautiful jewel that today is missing; however she escaped from the palace before he returned for his coronation and was declared treason," the professor looked at her. "While Pharaoh Aknamkanon had only one wife and one son, the Nameless Pharaoh had no qualms about having more than one woman. He wasn't Ramses II, since he failed to declare any as a concubine, or wife, but if he had not been killed, he would not have been left behind."

The professor's words made echo in Mana's mind, as well as a hole in her heart.

_M-Murdered?_ She thought stunned.

Then it occurred to Yūgi to intervene.

"Professor Hawkins," he said and approached the aforementioned man.

They shared a few words. There was seriousness on both faces.

Mana didn't know what they were talking about, but she didn't want to stay to listen. Beginning to breathe with difficulty, she took a careless jump from the stage and ran towards the exit without bothering to wait for Yūgi.

The great western corridor followed, which led to a large gate: the library.

This wasn't her home. It had many more shelves and, therefore, many more books from which to obtain information. Apart from the library manager and a cleaning man, there was no one else around.

She quickly went to the Universal History area and looked for part of ancient Egypt.

She pulled out about a dozen books, but none gave her what she was looking for.

_Murdered. Murdered. Murdered._

_Hated. Hated. Hated._

_Disowned._

_Imprisoned._

_Public Execution_

_His women and children._

There were so many words outside Mana's research that her brain didn't finish processing any.

If she wasn't convinced before, now Mana certainly was. It wasn't that something was wrong. It was that everything was wrong. The story had changed almost completely.

Her eyes stopped on the last book she pulled out. It was older than the rest and even on the cover gave a warning that the data was inconclusive and that they were not confirmed, but she still opened it.

She breathed the smell of spent book to calm down and began to read.

«_... After the disappearance of Manet with the jewel obtained —of which the whereabouts are unknown until now—, the Pharaoh became a tyrant, corrupt and womanizing man. The hatred and the feeling of betrayal that filled him gave way to a really dark time for all of Egypt during his rule. Taxes rose suddenly, poverty increased exponentially, deaths, diseases,_ ...»

Mana advanced the pages. To which the index of the book pointed to the Thief King.

«... _During most of his rule, the Nameless Pharaoh had countless problems with the so-called King Thief Bakura. This young man, with a hatred to the royal family since the massacre of his hometown, Kul Elna, was both hated and cheered by many people in Egypt. With an unknown power plus all his followers, he razed all the inhabitants of the palace. He murdered the priests, the brides and newborn children of the Pharaoh so that no one claims the throne later. The last one who he "took away the Ba" from as rumors said, was the Pharaoh himself, who was imprisoned the night of the massacre and executed in public the next day —it is believed that between his 18 and 20 years— ending his dynasty and offering his soul and name to the God to whom the Thief King was faithful_ ...»

«... _Subsequently, the Thief King Bakura took the position of Pharaoh. Some people opposed his lack of divine blood, others supported him thinking that it would be more beneficial to combat poverty and famine; but nevertheless_...»

With rapidity, fury, frustration and a lot of negative feelings, Mana prepared to leave the library when she crossed paths with Yūgi.

The boy looked at her with concern before putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Mana, are you all right?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"No," she said, but gave no further explanation.

Yūgi understood.

"Does it have to do with the investigation, or perhaps with your disappearance?"

"Yes... No. I do not know. Maybe," not even she knew it herself. She looked into his eyes. "What do you think, Yūgi?"

He was silent for a long time.

"I think that since I met you twelve years ago, I've never seen you like this," he declared. "Well, we both investigated this whole topic together. We knew the story backwards and right, what happened?"

She looked away.

"I don't know."

"You don't know, or you don't want to say it?" he replied.

Mana pursed her lips before bursting.

"I don't know! I don't know, ok? My whole head is a puzzle right now and all the pieces are scattered. And they don't fit, Yūgi, they don't fit!" Mana put her hands to her hair and began to walk from side to side under the gaze of the few present. "I don't know if I'm fine, I don't know if everyone is fine! I don't know if my decision was wrong, or if someone notices! Nothing is right! He trusted me and I left him! Now everything is different! I even got the necklace of his—!"

Mana stopped abruptly when she realized what she was saying.

_Shut up!_ shouted her consciousness.

"Mana, I don't know what you're talking about..."

There was no way she was Manet. She was not and never had been. It didn't matter where, or how she saw it. Since Manet existed in her original timeline, it was impossible for her to be the same person.

However, her time travel had caused a strange paradox. Paradoxes do not exist. They would be endless cycles without meaning.

But those who had caused this paradox had been none other than the gods of Egypt themselves.

If Hathor and Bastet wanted her in Egypt, they might have a reason beyond what she thought or supposed.

She had to...

"I have to go back," she declared as if some god had suddenly enlightened her.

Yūgi, who had been talking for all that time, stopped and looked at her.

Mana didn't give him time to ask when she started a career at home.

She had to go back to ancient Egypt and solve everything that had caused both her trip and her return.

But... _how?_

_Where to start?_


	13. XI

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

Ishizu received another call, for the umpteenth time in the day, before starting to eat her lunch. Only this time, looking at the screen, it wasn't one of the archaeologists or workers of her family's museum, but her brother Marik.

"Tell me," she said, taking seat in front of her delicious lunch.

_"Is Mana with you?"_ he went straight to the point.

Ishizu's heart jumped, as did she from her chair.

"No. Why? Weren't you going to pick her up?" she questioned.

_"I was going to do it, but Yūgi says she left a while ago,"_ Marik replied.

Ishizu bit her lower lip looking toward the door.

_"Do you think—?"_

"It's only been a few days! She doesn't—"

But she had no time to continue to object when the door of their home suddenly opened, revealing a completely soaked and agitated Mana, as if she had been running for hours.

Ishizu didn't hang up the call, but dropped her arm with the mobile phone.

"Mana, what do you think—?!"

Mana looked at her.

"It's raining outside," she pointed carelessly with her thumb before continuing on her way to the second floor. "I will be in my room, or in the library."

Ishizu watched her disappear after climbing the stairs and sighed, bringing her cell phone to her ear once more.

"You heard her," she said, and a few seconds later, she added. "Marik, I'm worried."

It took Marik many seconds to respond.

_"So I am."_

"Should I talk to her?" Ishizu suggested biting her lower lip.

If she had her younger brother in front of her, she would probably see him slowly shake his head.

_"I will. There is something I want to ask her."_

* * *

Hour after hour. Minute after minute. Book after book. Page after page. Mana found nothing about Gods, mystical things and time travel that related to each other.

She even begged to Atem's mother's necklace just in case it had some hidden magical power, but nothing happened beyond feeling completely clumsy and useless.

Maybe she was wrong? Maybe everything around her was as it should have been from the beginning and she was the one who was wrong?

Maybe they were only small prices to pay for reality...

NO! She screamed at herself and was filled again with energy.

"I don't know what to do!" she exclaimed throwing all her things to the ground, between everything, the necklace.

She quickly bent down and took it in her hands.

_Atem... What do I do?_

"Any problem?" she heard Marik's voice from the door.

Mana slightly opened her lips and jumped up hiding her hands with the necklace behind her back.

She backed up a few steps until she hit her desk and smiled.

"Marik," she said.

He returned a soft smile and approached to pick up the books she had thrown, watching each one with uncomfortable attention.

Once he had everything ready, he left it next to Mana.

"There are a lot of history books," he said. "How was your presentation?"

Mana looked confused for a few seconds and then everything fell like dominoes.

"Oh, I'm very sorry!" she said, waving her hands and almost completely forgetting the necklace. "I had problems with. .. everything and I forgot that—"

"I know." Marik interrupted her and his eyes left Mana's features to go to the jewel between her fingers. "It is a nice necklace, although I think it is very ostentatious for your tastes."

Mana blinked and quickly tried to hide the object again, although she realized it was useless.

She sighed and sat on her bed while Marik looked back at all the sheets and notebooks on her desk, all in a heavy silence.

" Yūgi told me about your outburst at university..."

Mana averted her gaze to the floor even though she knew Marik wasn't looking at her and tightened the necklace on her left hand.

The wound had healed almost completely, but she still wore a patch.

"Yes, well, I—"

Marik looked at her.

"Mana, are you really okay?" he wanted to know.

"I'm really tired of hearing that question," she confessed and looked back at him. "I'm fine. It's just that... Since I came back nothing has the meaning I remembered. Everything —Everyone has something different to me. Something that no one else notices…" she sighed tiredly. "Like a puzzle with pieces of another puzzle."

Marik nodded slowly pacing the room.

"And... does that have to do with Atem?"

Mana denied.

"No, Atem is —" she frowned and jumped up, looking Marik straight in the face, realizing what he had said. She swallowed. "What—?"

"Mana, who is Atem?" Interrupted Marik.

Mana pursed her lips.

"How do you know about Atem?" she asked, but got no more response than she gave.

Marik drilled her with his gaze. As if it were an interrogation. As if she had done something wrong and he wanted to get inside her mind to know why she did it.

"He was the one who gave you that strange necklace?" he questioned. Mana didn't answer. She was perplexed. Surprised. Stunned. And all possible synonyms that could be found for the definition. "Since when do you know him? Who is Atem? Is it because of him that you left? Mana, did he—?"

"NO!" Mana finally reacted to all her brother's questions, although not in the best possible way. "I don't know what you're thinking, but it's definitely not like that! Where did you get that name?! Why suddenly so many questions about him?!"

"They are not suddenly!" Marik replied with the same power in his voice.

Mana could hear Ishizu's hurried steps up the stairs, but none bothered to pay attention to her when she reached the door of the room.

"Since you came back twelve years ago, we've all asked ourselves the same question, Mana," she blinked confused. _Huh? Twelve years?. _"Who the hell is Atem? Why, after your two disappearances, do you do the same?"

"The same?" Mana repeated and then Ishizu entered with committed steps until she was next to Marik and put a hand on his arm to calm him down.

Her older stepsister looked at her.

"Both twelve years ago and now, you always say his name in dreams, Mana," she said. "«Atem»."

"Since so long ago? Why didn't any of you say anything?"

"Because we believed that if we did, we could unleash some stressful factor, or whatever the doctor said," Marik growled, taking off Ishizu's supportive hand. "But now that we've done it, it doesn't seem like Atem was a bad thing in your life."

Mana swallowed.

"No... Atem is not..." she forced herself to correct her words. "Atem wasn't a bad person."

_Not in my timeline, or when I met him, at least._

"I see it," said Marik.

Then both step-brothers left her room without saying much more than "good night" even though it wasn't past 4 pm.

Mana had never seen so much anger and worry mixed in the eyes of her relatives; However, what really stood out in their bright looks was disappointment.

She didn't know if that was an effect, or if she was only forcing herself to think of it as one.

* * *

During the rest of the afternoon and until the next day, Mana saw neither Marik nor Ishizu. In fact, they didn't look for her and she didn't look for them.

She sighed and looked around her empty house.

She was so... lonely.

Mana took Atem's mother's necklace that now rested on her neck. It was true, it wasn't her style at all. Too golden and striking for her taste, but...

_I don't dislike it._

It felt good to wear it. It felt like it was its place... Somehow.

In order to find some solution to her problematic mind, Mana took her bag and left her house. She planned to go to her university and look for something, whatever, that would serve her even as a clue to return to the past.

However, she didn't wait, when she opened the door and reached the public sidewalk, to meet a certain smiling redhead, leaning on the hood of a silver car.

Mana endured the urge to exhale her exasperation.

"Don't tell me Marik sent you to talk to me, Serenity," she almost growled with a frown, though her anger wasn't directed at anyone in particular.

She smiled and denied.

"To be precise, the only thing he told me was: «I don't understand your friend.» and when he talks about you as «my friend» and not as «his sister», it's my signal to intervene," she explained.

Mana rolled her eyes gracefully.

"Doesn't it bother you that he calls you to talk about his family problems?" she wanted to know.

Serenity shrugged.

"That's what couples are for, aren't we? To support each other."

Sighing and looking away, Mana inclined her head.

"I suppose?"

Serenity laughed and then a few seconds of silence from Mana passed.

She had never hated Serenity. The Wheeler girl was actually a good and far-reaching person, but Mana had never begun to talk about her interests, or even stopped to ask for the time. She had trouble imagining how they had started their friendship that was now so close.

Soon, both were walking towards no particular direction. Serenity had brought her car, but it didn't seem right to her.

Serenity took a deep breath before speaking.

"Marik and Ishizu love you. You know it, don't you?" she mentioned.

Mana nodded and raised an eyebrow, amused and feeling all absurd.

"You know we don't need someone to play the mother, right?" she replied.

Serenity laughed again.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's just that we all were very affected by your disappearance. I somehow understand how they want to protect you. You are their world, after all."

And those were some of the reasons why Mana felt so guilty.

She didn't look back.

"Believe me, I understand all that perfectly."

Serenity sighed... Relieved?

Mana looked at her confused.

"I'm glad you do. I really don't play the role of mother," she joked. "I am your friend and, as such, you can tell me more things than a mother. For example..."

She shot her a look of those in code that only best friends could understand.

However Mana didn't know what to do.

"For example...?" she urged her to continue.

Serenity took a few quick steps and stood in front of her before turning with her index finger up and pointing at Mana's necklace.

"Who gave it to you... is he handsome?" she wanted to know.

Mana almost got stuck with her own saliva and breathing.

"Huh? How do you know that a «he» gave it to me?" she evaded her question as best she could.

Her brother's fiance laughed.

"Then it is," she said and leaned back, returning her personal space. "Marik may be my fiance, but he is certainly similar to my older brother in many ways."

"Joey?" Mana guessed and Serenity nodded.

"Yep. Before dating Marik, he really scared many suitors. Always excusing himself that I deserved the best and all that," she rolled her eyes. "He could have been annoying, but he did it because he really loves me. That's why I can understand how you feel and how Marik feels about it."

Mana blinked a couple of times and then narrowed her eyes scanning Serenity's face home.

"Do you like my brother because he reminds you of your brother?" she wanted to know more about gossip and curiosity than because she was offended.

Serenity rolled her eyes once more.

"They say we fall in love with people who remind us of our childhood," she said and smiled, "but Marik is Marik and Joey is Joey. There is not point of comparation."

Mana nodded thinking about what Serenity said. For some reason it took root quite deep in a space of her mind.

_It's... a nice way of thinking_, she smiled, understanding why Marik liked this girl.

"That's why," she continued. "If you have a problem with boys, you can always come to me," she said. "I'm not an expert, much less, but I can advise you on how to cope with an annoying overprotective older brother. We are friends, after all."

Mana's smile faltered for a few imperceptible moments.

"My problems go beyond a boy and an older brother," she let out, but she didn't think about correcting it.

"Hm..." Serenity thought, "but it has to do with the problems you have now, doesn't it?"

Mana nodded without looking at her.

Then Serenity stopped her once more.

"I think you should go back to the beginning of everything."

Mana inclined her head, upset by what was said and curious after a while.

"Back to the beginning?" she repeated and Serenity nodded.

"I can't tell you how to solve the problems you have since I don't know them, but I can give you a way to the solution," she explained and pointed to the necklace, pressing her finger lightly against the ruby. "How did the problem start? When did it start? Who started it? Solve those questions and you will find a way to solve it."

Mana inhaled when she realized that what Serenity said certainly made perfect sense.

She silently analyzed everything. While Atem didn't paint in the case much, much less Marik, the rest fit really well.

Who caused all this? When did it start?

It had been started by Bastet, as well as Hathor, or not? There was no hesitation about that, but as for "when."

She could say it was during her time travel, but ...

Mana closed her eyes for a few seconds. There was a date on the tip of his tongue, as well as on the back of her head, which she knew must be the breaking point.

That date had been told so many times that she had lost count. A date that triggered everything even before she knew it.

She opened her eyes as soon as she discovered it.

_Sure... If it's a start... If it's an approximate, or exact date..._

"Mana?" Serenity called her as she turned on her axis in another direction.

Mana looked at her with a smile.

"You helped me a lot, Serenity, thank you!" she exclaimed turning with energy and taking the hands of the redhead ignoring her doubts of the past. "Both the role of mother and best friend suits you, don't forget it!"

Serenity squeezed back.

"I wouldn't disappoint my first real friend," she commented, and before Mana let go of her hands to continue on her way, Serenity pulled her closer, as if to tell her a secret. "You know? Marik is not as stubborn as my brother. He will understand what you should tell him."

Mana nodded knowing that it was better for Serenity to believe what she believed. That friendship they had without qualms was a good fact. She really hoped to recreate it when she returned to her original timeline.

If she could do it.

She said goodbye with a raised hand and ran towards a direction she had never gone before in the time she she had been back.

Her family's museum.

Mana hoped she could find something to help her.

She brought one of her hands to the necklace.

She had to know the whole story. The true story. From the beginning. She wouldn't allow everything to continue as it was. She would no longer think about what was right and what was wrong from her point of view. She wouldn't allow Atem's name to be stained because of her.


	14. XII

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

Mana really wasn't quite sure what to look for in order to have a fixed path, but if something was certain, it was that she had to find some kind of... connection with Bastet, or Hathor, in order to return to ancient Egypt.

And she couldn't think of a better idea than going to her family's Egyptian history museum with Atem's mother's necklace adorning her neck.

The museum was huge and impressive, to say the least. It was the first time she was there since it didn't exist in her original timeline, but she didn't stop to look at many details.

With small quick jumps, she climbed the stands carefully and hid behind an outer column when she heard people coming out.

She had no idea if Ishizu or Marik were there, but she didn't want to take a chance and go directly to an interrogation.

The doors were practically open for everyone, so it wasn't difficult to camouflage among the not-so-large crowd that visited that day.

The first thing you saw when entering was the lobby. The walls had very well done Egyptian paintings, as well as the occasional imitation of sarcophagi to decorate and long wooden benches in which people could sit and plan their next destination.

Mana wasn't very clear where to go, although she discovered by chance that the entire museum was divided into dates and that, according to whether the floors went up or down, they went up or down.

They had also set aside on the places that had the most heights on the time, but she didn't think about that when she began to remember what she had studied for her project.

Luckily, the museum hall opened the way to the New Kingdom, so she only had to follow the indications until she reached the year 1000 BC., the year she had traveled, according to her assumptions.

However, when she arrived at the place that should only be filled with data from Atem's history, she found the most empty and lonely post there was, only to be overshadowed by Bakura's a few meters away.

She pursed her lips and began to move forward with her hands on the necklace.

There was a statue of Atem's torso and half-neglected face in the middle of a showcase. Mana recognized him when she saw the pointed hair, but the look that showed too much superiority was not his, nor was the cruelty described in the legend of the counter, nor the golden and pyramidal object that hung around his neck.

Mana recognized it as the millennium puzzle. Yūgi had told her that his grandfather had managed to find it after an arduous journey, but that he no longer had it.

When she asked about its whereabouts, Yūgi told her that at some point he would introduce her to the one who took care of it almost as if it had always been his.

_But that's not the case anymore, huh_... thought Mana. Yūgi's grandfather had died in the search for the millennium item, so the person who supposedly had it no longer did so, if the person existed in himself.

She shook her head. She had said she would no longer think so.

_Anyway, why is it called a puzzle?_ She sighed moving away from the showcase.

There weren't much more data than she already knew described in the murals and she didn't want to read Bakura's. Mana did not dare.

Mana sighed heavily and leaned against a wall not far away. That was the place closest to ancient Egypt that she knew. There must be something else... Another thing that could be helpful...

_Bubastis_.

Bubastis was the city that praised Bastet as a protective Goddess. Bastet was the one who had contacted her in the first place.

She climbed the elevator to the block of the Third Intermediate Period, at which time it had its greatest prosperity.

Curiously, that area was with fewer people. Mana soon found out why when she arrived at the Bubastis part.

They had put on a large white cloth that covered most of the exhibition, perhaps what everyone could see most were the mummies of the cats and a couple of ancient writings about the people themselves and the Goddess, but nothing more than that.

Confused and with a frown, Mana approached, but her path was quickly interrupted by a man in a black suit.

"Excuse me, miss, but this area is closed for now," he reported as he indicated with his hands that she should return to the elevator.

Mana swallowed.

"Huh? Why? Something happened?" she wanted to know.

The guard shook his head slightly.

"No, but tomorrow there will be an exhibition about an original object they brought directly from Egypt. My duty is for everything to continue according to Miss Ishtar's orders, so…" He looked at her so that she understood what he meant.

Mana rolled her eyes.

"I understand," she said, turning around. "Then I will come back tomorrow."

"You will be welcome," the man bowed and Mana continued on her way to the elevator.

However, she stopped before arriving and hid behind one of the ornate pots.

Mana had no idea what they had brought, but she didn't care. It didn't matter how small it was —which she didn't think so if they were making so many arrangements for tomorrow— what mattered was that it was originally from Egypt. Surely it would have more connection with Bastet if it was from Bubastis itself.

She shouldn't miss the opportunity, however small it was. She felt lucky.

Once the guard turned to continue his journey, Mana left her makeshift hiding place to run behind the cloth.

She got into the part where it was not united and waited until there was no worker present inside yet.

That area was full of scale models and models of what Bubastis had been in its time. In some places they were fixing the lights and reflectors, so it was darker at the moment, than the rest of the museum, and it wasn't until she reached almost exactly the middle, that she stopped.

It was a huge statue of who, she supposed, was the representation of Bastet. A black cat very similar to the one she had welcomed in her room, with the difference that it was arranged with golden jewels and it wore a truly dazzling and striking aura.

She felt that something inside her reacted and resonated strongly with that aura.

Was it— was she calling her?

She took a step toward the statue. There was nothing to stop her.

Except...

"What are you doing here?"

The bubble that had enveloped her disappeared when she heard Ishizu's voice behind her.

She turned on her heel for some coherent explanation in her head.

"Hey... Well, I... I was looking for you and a guard commented on what they were doing here. So I…" she said, shrinking a little and wishing Ishizu didn't notice her lie.

"Looking for us?" Ishizu repeated with a frown and hands on her waist.

Mana nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, you and Marik. I ..." she looked away. "I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I know you only—"

"No." Ishizu interrupted her and Mana looked up in fear that she had discovered her, but instead, her older stepsister just sighed, relaxed her shoulders and looked at her with a light smile. "We pressure you more than we should."

Mana also smiled a little more relaxed before looking up at the statue.

"It's... awesome," she said, looking for another topic of conversation. "From Egypt, I was told?"

Ishizu nodded approaching as well.

"Yes," her blue eyes turned to Bastet. "The archaeologists under my command found it very buried under the rubble. Under the condition of leaving a guarantee, the Egyptian government let us bring it for an exhibition and then we will return it."

"Huh... So that's why you seemed busier than usual. Well, apart from the ancient articles and that."

"That's right," Ishizu smiled. "Mana, do you think if we are going to eat something and talk?"

Mana nodded before Ishizu's cell phone started ringing.

"You should answer," she suggested.

The insistence of the call made Ishizu notice the number before pursing her lips.

"Hmm... I really don't want to," she said and Mana laughed. "Don't move from here, or break anything, understand?"

Mana brought a hand to her forehead in a military salute with her back straight.

"Ye'sir!" she nodded.

But Ishizu looked at her a couple more seconds.

"Don't move, okay?" she asked a little more seriously.

Returning to her relaxed posture, Mana nodded.

"I promise."

Then her sister picked up the cell phone and went to answer outside the Bubastis section.

Mana waited a few more seconds in silence before turning around and walking straight to the statue. Without hesitation, without thinking more.

_I'm sorry, Ishizu_, she apologized silently when she reached out a hand and touched Bastet. _I will have to break my promise._

Probably a light was emitted. It probably felt warm. There was probably something more than just nothing.

But Mana didn't notice when she suddenly heard:

**_«It's been a while, human.» _**

Mana opened her eyes and found herself in a strange space. There was no floor, there was no ceiling, there were no walls... There was nothing.

It was just her and the image of Bastet with so much light around that Mana could only differentiate her silhouette.

"I hope not too much, Bastet," she said before exhaling a strange mixture of relief and anxiety. "I have to talk to you."

**_«About what, if you can say, human?» _**

Mana took a deep breath of air.

"About the truth."


	15. XIII

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

"About the truth," Mana replied and, although she didn't know how, she felt Bastet take an interest. "I want to know what really happened twelve years ago."

The Goddess advanced to be located almost two meters away from Mana and took a height similar to her own, although her feline head imposed her much more than any other characteristic.

**_«Twelve years ago?» she repeated._**

Mana nodded determinedly.

"A friend told me that to solve a problem, I must return to the beginning of everything," she said, sure of her words before looking the Goddess in the eye, if she could do so. "The death of my adoptive parents and Yūgi's grandfather. My friendship with Yūgi. My taste for the Egyptian. And my first disappearance... I've been thinking about it and everything connects at some point in that year. Why? What really happened?"

She saw Bastet smile slightly, a very elegant image, if she had to characterize it, only so that she later approached with a rhythmic slowness and surrounded her with a single jump. As if Mana were her prey. As if she were a mouse and Bastet a cat. She studied her. Analyzed her. She drilled her with that feline look.

She wanted to see her intentions.

**_«Because you want to know? Are you not happy with your current life?»_**

Mana denied.

"Certainly," she said, "there are many things I like about this life, but there are many other things that don't seem fair to me. I caused this. I don't know why you gods chose me to take the place of Manet, but—"

**_«We didn't choose you to replace Manet, human,»_** the Goddess contradicted, interrupting her. **_«You are Manet, but at the same time you are not.» _**

"W-What do you mean?" Mana stuttered unconsciously and bit her inner cheek. She didn't expect such a contradictory phrase in itself.

**_«Mana, Manet, or with any other name and any other body, your soul will always continue to maintain the same essence, as well as your same love for the Pharaoh. We don't choose you, human. This is your destiny. It has been for a long time.»_**

"But why?" she demanded and swallowed. "Manet already existed before I traveled, how is that possible? What happened to her? Paradoxes do not exist."

She saw Bastet shake her head.

**_«That is correct, human. Paradoxes are mistakes, they shouldn't exist, but there are those who like to make those mistakes for their own benefit and satisfaction.»_**

Mana raised an eyebrow.

"«There are who»?" She repeated clenching her fists. "Don't you get in that bag too?"

The Goddess didn't get angry with her disrespect, on the contrary, she seemed funny and that angered Mana more. Did all the Gods have fun playing with humans? Was that the truth she was looking for?

**_«It's not what you think, I can assure you,»_** she replied, moving far enough away from Mana that her complete figure fit her viewing angle without the need to move her face. **_«We... Although we can do it, there are rules that limit us the intervention with the human world. These rules have a lot to do with ideologies and beliefs, which have been declining over the years; but, as I said, there are those who like to break those rules.»_**

**_«_****_You may think it was my idea, or my mother's, to take you to our ancient Egypt, but if we hadn't had the need to do so, then we wouldn't have done it.» _**

Once again, Mana clenched her brow and lifted her head. She had done it so many times in those last days —including those of her trip— that she hoped her face wouldn't wrinkle sooner than it should.

"The need?" she repeated. What had been so problematic that the Egyptian gods themselves had to intervene?

The Goddess nodded.

**_«All that really goes back many years ago, but, in your time, it happened in parallel twelve years ago, more or less,»_** Mana looked up at the Goddess. **_«Yes... It was twelve years ago that your destiny changed. It was twelve years ago that the fact that you were the reincarnation of Manet became really important. And that was due to a single being of incredible powers.» _**

"A being?" Repeated Mana confused. "Like a God, or something like that?"

The Goddess denied.

**_«It exists from before us. Since before the light. He is the darkness itself. The incarnation of evil in human hearts. His name is... Zorc.»_**

_Zorc?_ Mana repeated in her mind. _I had never heard of that name before._

But then a strange sensation filled her chest. Similar to fear, but it was not. A strange feeling

She hadn't heard Atem's name before either.

ShShe looked up at Bastet when the Goddess moved lightly to get her attention.

All solemnly.

**_«Do you remember what happened with Kul Elna?»_** Mana nodded. Atem had told her after his father passed away and remembered everything clearly. **_«Zorc, before the millennium puzzle was found, managed to travel to the past and intervene in the massacre. To be more precise, he managed to interfere with the future of a young man named Bakura.»_**

"The Thief King?"

Bastet nodded.

**_«I won't go into details because we would run out of time, but with this first intervention, something really great changed and it was then that we, the Gods, decided to act.»_**

_A great change_..., Mana repeated in her mind. There was only one thing that had really changed, if she thought about it, something that didn't fit.

**_«My mother sent me on your search, but at that time you were still very small, so your interaction with Prince Atem was not much impact.» _**

_So my guess was correct_, Mana thought. She had already traveled to the past.

**_«In order not to break your timeline, we decided that you both would forget the moments you lived together and we managed to contain Zorc for the next twelve years, until you were ready to return.» _**

"Why me?" Mana wanted to know, suddenly, moving an arm to emphasize her words. "Why didn't you look directly for Atem?"

The Goddess took a few seconds to respond.

**_«The truth is that there are already other Gods helping Atem, but if you are not there, it won't be enough. That's why this timeline has changed a lot. Well, there is one thing that the Egyptians believe in and that is in which women are the complement of man. Without you... Without Manet, the story of the Nameless Pharaoh is simply one more of the bunch.»_**

"You will send me back?" she asked, but it sounded more like an affirmation.

She was anxious. Very anxious to hear an answer.

**_«Are you willing to go through the consequences?» _**

"Consequences?" Mana's heart jumped uneasily.

**_«Time has already advanced in the past and Zorc will not allow everything to be easy. With the power that I have left, I alone will not be able to send you at an exact moment; although you will appear before the plans of Bakura and Zorc take place, I cannot assure that your timeline will be completely restored.»_**

Mana swallowed with several contradictory feelings.

"Then why did you give me the opportunity to choose? Why you just didn't force me to stay?" she wanted to know.

Bastet sighed.

**_«Would you have been happier staying against your will and never knowing the truth? Since Zorc interrupted the past you knew, things will never be the same again.» _**

Mana nodded, not satisfied with the answer, much less with herself. Bastet was right: she wouldn't have been happy.

That was why she was now trying to repair what was caused by her stubbornness. She no longer cared if everything didn't return to the way it was before, if she could erase the stain on the Nameless Pharaoh, then...

She frowned again.

Marik and Ishizu had told her about how much she mentioned Atem's name twelve years ago.

If their first meeting had had so little impact... Would that really have been the case?

"One more thing," she asked and the Goddess nodded. "Will I recover my memories about what happened twelve years ago? Will Atem do it?"

**_«Do you want it to be like that?» _**

Mana nodded pretty sure. She no longer wanted to have that empty space in her memory and, although Atem hadn't even mentioned it, she was sure he would want to know too.

**_«It's fine, but I don't think everything would be so easy.» _**

Once Bastet said that and before Mana could ask what she meant, a blinding light was emitted from all sides and, at the same time, from none, forcing Mana to force her eyes while her eyelids closed by reaction.

**_«The next time you open your eyes, you will be back in ancient Egypt.» _**

Then the last thing she saw before closing her eyes was the Goddess quickly approaching her face to face with her and touching, apparently, the ruby of the necklace.

**_«When the time comes, you can call me.»_**

Then the Goddess disappeared and with that, Mana managed to listen —or thought she did— to Ishizu to call her before she was almost unconscious.

Almost unconscious.

A lot of images and memories began to gather in her mind. One after another, so fast that she almost couldn't distinguish any, but soon they were taking shape.

She in the palace gardens playing with a boy with spiky hair...

She hiding from the servants and guards...

Helping Atem escape his classes through a window...

Having long and countless hours of meaningless children's conversations, as well as endless games...

Wanting to make his life more bearable than it was. Less heavy and boring. More human than God.

More of a child than of Prince.

If she was controlling her body, she would surely have smiled.

_Oh, now I understand_, she thought.

How long had it been? Maybe a week or less?

It hadn't been much, but it was enough. She had already been in love with Atem, after all. She just had to remember.

Remember her past life. Remember her feelings. Remember the erased essence of itself.

At any other time, she would have denied it. She would have become the rebel and wanted to go against the so-called "destiny," but... She simply couldn't go against her true self.

_Yes... I understand now..._

She didn't trust Atem because she related him to Marik, but quite the opposite...

_Perhaps the Gods were wrong to erase our memories..._

Then, when Mana opened her eyes again, she couldn't help smiling as she looked around and felt the heat of the eternal summer by the burning sand under her palms.

_Or maybe I was wrong to run away from my feelings..._


	16. ARC III: TRUTHS OF THE PAST INTERLUDE

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

Everything was burning.

Everyone was dying.

The whinny of the horses, the orders that from time to time one of them shouted...

Everything was accumulating painfully in his memory... and in his heart.

"W-Will we be fine?" asked a voice at his side. "Bakura?"

The aforementioned gray-haired boy turned only his face, but not his body. His palm stuck against one of the walls almost completely destroyed prevented him from doing so completely.

The girl who was talking to him had her skin soaked in the fire. Her dark hair fell to one side over her left shoulder and her eyes were bright green bathed in terror. She was the daughter of one of the villagers he usually talked to.

None passed the seven years and were experiencing almost in their own flesh the cruelty of the Royal family.

It took him a long time to respond, but he did it anyway.

"Yes. We'll be," he declared with a feigned conviction.

If they continued like this... If they were still there... Nothing good would come out.

**_«Do you want power?»_** Suddenly asked a voice in his head.

Bakura was startled and looked everywhere, but the only person she saw remained the girl he had managed to hide with.

**_«Human, would you like to have the power to change destiny?»_**

Once again he was speechless. He didn't know who was talking to him, nor did he know why his chest suddenly filled with a dark — really macabre — feeling.

**_«Don't you want to avenge all those you loved?» _**

He swallowed. He pursed his lips and kept watching his beloved people almost disappeared in the blazing flames. He clenched both his fists and his eyebrows before a chill ran down his spine.

**_«I'll ask you one last time, do you want the power to change destiny?» _**

He took a deep breath. He wanted it. Not only him, but also the horrible feeling that had taken over his being.

**_«Then give me proof of that.»_**

_A proof? Like what?_

**_«Show me your determination, human. Give me a proof, an offering.»_**

An offering... He needed power, so he needed an offering valuable enough to match what he asked for.

Would a Ba be enough? He looked at the girl behind him.

The figure he imagined in his mind smiled.

**_«... For now...» _**

Bakura did the same and her lips curved upward.

"Bakura? Something happens?" asked the girl.

She had never seen so much emptiness in his eyes. So much hate and... so much sadness.

Bakura saw her swallow and try to run, but he pounced on her fragile body and placed his hands around her thin neck. Both could be children, but his strength far exceeded hers.

"B-Ba-Baku... ra, what—gghh—?!" she tried to get him off, but the lack of air in her lungs didn't help.

"... You wanted to be fine ..." he smiled, tightening his grip. "That way you won't suffer anymore. You can go to the Afterlife without suffering and without remorse. No fear, no pain, no hate. I will take it all... I will avenge them..."

When she stopped struggling, Bakura supposed she had passed out. Then he slowly got up from the ground and looked for one of the nearest stone blocks.

He weighed it and, although it was larger than the size of his head, for some reason he could carry it with relative ease.

"I will avenge you..." her name was really far away. As if it had disappeared only after leaving his lips.

Then he stamped it against the head of, until then, his closest friend. It sounded... strange, so he did it again.

Blood splashed again and again and again with every hit he gave. The sound, which was supposed to have been the bones that covered the head when it broke, was no longer heard after the first attack.

And if it weren't because her face was so bruised, disfigured and broken, he would think she was smiling. She was wishing him luck. That she wasn't upset, or sad at all.

Which was now impossible to know.

He wiped his face with his equally stained sleeve and knelt beside the body.

"Was that enough?" he asked out loud and out of nowhere.

Maybe he heard a laugh. Although he couldn't say for sure.

**_«For now I will give you the power to change destiny. The power to go against those who took everything away from you... but I will need more, human. Much more...» _**

Bakura smiled beneath the bangs of his hair. His almost exorbitant eyes gave him the most macabre appearance that no one could have seen until now.

"Yes... Don't worry about that... I will find the most powerful Ba and Ka and give them to you... In order to fulfill what you have promised..."

**_«I will give you the power to go against the Gods. Don't forget it, Bakura.»_**

The boy's smile did not disappear. It was a weird smile. A broken smile

It wasn't a smile.

"I won't, Zorc."


	17. XIV

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

Mana had been walking for hours. She didn't know how many, but she knew enough to have already dehydrated from the heat.

Her orientation was terribly wrong. She didn't remember where she had to go. _Heck!. _She didn't even have any idea if she had known at first. She wanted to blame Bastet for leaving her practically in the middle of nowhere, but she refrained from any insult she could say when she reached a small town.

Saying small was big and calling it a town was not entirely correct, she supposed upon entering for what appeared to be the entrance.

"Hello?! Is there someone?!" she asked, standing on the tips of her feet to see better.

Nobody answered. No one appeared.

There was nothing but rubble and trash everywhere. Smell dead and rotten, if she had to compare it with something, and dust and sand covering almost the entire place.

It was sad and desolate.

A town really abandoned by the Gods, she thought as she stood beside one of the destroyed adobe houses.

The wall of no more than two meters provided a pleasant shadow.

Mana decided to walk in search of something that would help. She crossed herself every time she entered a house —something she wasn't sure why she felt compelled to do— and searched every space that didn't seem completely crushed by other things.

It was in the most secluded house of all that she found a large, dirty and linen cloth. She put it on her head and shoulders as a cape. At least it would protect her already burned skin from the sun.

And just as she turned around to get out of the destroyed house, a sharp, pointed and shiny object landed in the middle of her chest without getting through it.

She swallowed and avoided breathing as she felt the pressure of the tip against her clothes.

"Who are you and what are you doing in these places?" asked a male voice.

Mana just looked up a little without uncovering her face, but found nothing but a red robe covering the body of a man taller than her.

She swallowed again and ran her tongue over her lips. There was no Atem to save her, much less Yūgi or Marik, she had to manage alone.

"I-I'm lost," she confessed with her heart to a thousand, almost feeling it in her throat. "I want to go to the capital."

The man didn't lower his weapon.

"The capital?" he repeated. "We are very far from that place."

Mana nodded without knowing very well what to say. He had said it so... contemptuously. With so much hate that Mana didn't dare to respond until after at least five seconds.

"I know," she replied. This time she took a deep breath to calm down. "That's why I said I'm lost, do you know how I can get there?"

The man was slow to respond too. Analyzing her words, or thinking too much about what she said.

Then he finally lowered his weapon.

"Your clothes are strange, woman," He changed the subject as he began to walk. Mana inclined her head with a frown, but he didn't even notice it when he gestured to follow him. "Where are you from?"

Mana walked, not so fast in order not to match his pace, and looked at the man's back.

_There is something..._

"From far away," she replied. "So far that it wouldn't even matter to tell you where."

"And why are you going to the capital?" he asked.

Mana waited a few seconds.

"I... I'm looking for someone," she said and stopped abruptly, what exactly was she doing? "Where are you taking me?"

He also stopped.

"I also go to Thebes," he said without giving more detail.

"Do you expect me to keep it that way, without more?" Mana questioned, frowning and getting alert, but camouflaging it under a blanket of calm and elegance.

She almost thought that Ishizu would be proud.

This time the man was quick to respond and only spat the words as if Mana was an abandoned dog looking for food, even if what they offered was poison.

"I have no business with you, woman. You can come if you want, or you can stay and wander through this desolate place. I will not force you to anything."

Mana thought about it.

Trust a stranger?

Or wander countless days until another envoy of the Gods appeared?

She looked around and sighed. She didn't have much choice, did she?

As the man said, the road was long and late, many hours even on horseback —which had to stop often to drink water somewhere— but all that was nothing when Mana spotted the houses of Thebes.

Similar to when she had arrived the first time, only a little later and without the same spirit.

She frowned.

_There is something..._

She started to walk, but the man stopped her with a rough pull.

"Where do you think you are going?" he asked pressing her arm.

Mana let go with another pull.

"What you think? We're here," she replied.

The man smiled beneath the cloak. Mana opened her eyes wide when she saw that macabre smile.

"And you think I brought you for free?" he asked back and took her arm again to bring her closer. "How are you going to pay me, huh?"

Mana struggled. Why was that happening again?

"I don't have money," she said, and then added: "And you never told me I should pay you for a favor."

"I never said it was a favor in the first place and" he also paused, as if to make fun of her. "It doesn't need to be money exactly..."

The man took her roughly from the jaw and it was only for a second, only one, in which Mana could see the frightening flash in his gray eyes.

She recognized those gray eyes. She had seen them in books and museums, but that wasn't the cause of her fear. Something very strong lodged inside her, so strong that she was released again with the same amount of force.

"Ba-Bakura?" his name escaped her lips as soon as she noticed.

Her heart beat with terror increasing every second.

Bakura then took off the hood of his red robe and revealed his messy gray hair.

"Oh? So we already knew each other," he commented. Mana didn't answer. "Then you should know that I always make a profit!"

In a movement so fast that only the whinny of his horse lasted, Bakura took her by the wrist and, pulling her towards him, tore the improvised hood that had been made.

Mana closed her eyes for whatever came. She waited and waited, but nothing happened.

Slowly she opened her eyes only to meet the palest person she had ever seen.

He released her in a strong and rough movement, enough to make her go back and almost fall on dry land.

"What are you doing here?!" he questioned.

Mana could see every faction of Bakura contract with rage and anger, although there was also one more feeling that she didn't fully understand.

However, she didn't care as soon as he took her by the neck and pressed his fingers over her windpipe.

"What are _you_ doing here?!" he repeated. Or rather he roared. Too strong and spitting that Mana almost doesn't understand.

"E-Eh?" Mana didn't know what to answer. Just right and she was able to breathe.

_What the hell—?!_

* * *

It took everything Bakura had inside him so he wouldn't break that neck for the second time in his life.

What was she doing there?

Why was she exactly there?

He had been only a few hours ago beside her grave, but now she was standing in front of him, with a half-closed eye and slightly open lips trying to find an explanation while trying to breathe.

This woman couldn't be the same for so many years. While her Ba had felt slightly similar, they couldn't be the same person.

And yet there she was. As if nothing had happened.

He wanted the explanation.

**_«Look at her neck, Bakura,»_** suggested the familiar voice in his head.

Bakura did the order and then noticed the shiny gold necklace with a ruby in the middle.

It was a necklace that shouted "Royal family" loudly, or rather, shouted "Pharaoh."

He made memory.

It wasn't the first time he saw this woman. The first time he had been too far away to recognize her.

His fingers tightened on her neck and she coughed.

"You... You were that woman next to the Pharaoh," he said.

Feelings of betrayal sprouted in every word that came from his lips.

**_«Kill her, Bakura.»_**

He resisted the impulse.

"So you betray me, uh, Manet..."

_Manet_... He felt that name had been erased a long time ago and now he was saying it again.

She looked perplexed and he smiled when that voice of imposing aura again ordered the same.

**_«Kill her now.» _**

"I have a better idea," he replied and let the girl face down on the burning ground before crouching almost on her.

He ripped the jewel while she coughed the air that entered, surely, painfully to her lungs.

"W-Wait!" she coughed again. "Gi—Give it back to me!"

Bakura smiled and rode his horse without giving her time for anything.

**_«Go back and kill her, Bakura. We don't want future problems. Don't you want to complete your revenge? She must die!»_**

Bakura pressed the necklace between his fingers and the corners of his lips curled furiously upward.

* * *

Mana struggled to listen to Bakura's babble while pretending to continue coughing. How did this man know her name? Was it due to the rumors, perhaps?

"I'll take my revenge, Zorc," she heard the thief laugh. "I will kill her with all Pharaoh's loved ones and then take his life in front of all his followers. I will revenge. I will revenge. I will revenge. And this object will mark the beginning of everything..."

Then the horse began to jog quickly to some nonspecific place inside Thebes moving away from Mana, who could only clench the sand under her hands in fists.

_HOW DARE YOU—?! HOW DARE YOU USE HIS NECKLACE IN THAT WAY?! HOW DARE YOU?! HOW DARE YOU USE IT OUR AGAINST?!_

Mana, despite her fury and her heart beating in contradictory fear, remembered every word from Bakura's lips.

A name stood out from all.

ZORC.

At the same time that she recognized the name as "who existed before the light and the Gods themselves," she jumped up. She had to let Mahad know. She had to anticipate Atem. She had to... She had to—

_I have to hurry_.

Then she made her way on foot.

_Please, Atem.__ I'm going._

Mana listened to the whinny of a horse before hiding behind a wall and directing her fearful gaze believing it was Bakura again, but all she saw was someone riding a horse and heading down the same path to the distant palace. Quickly.

She didn't give it importance and couldn't say if she should have done it.


	18. XV

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

_He was sitting by the window with many papyri extended along the desk in front of him._

_He sighed exhausted and returned his gaze to the door. Shimon had gone out in search of something that, according to the priest, would help him learn more, but the Prince no longer wanted to learn anything else._

_A head peeked, then, at his side. Her messy, brown hair stood out above her dirty face, but her green eyes remained the most striking in her even when she smiled._

_Atem almost jumped out of his chair when he saw her._

_"Hello, stranger," he greeted her, sticking his head out the same window and finding her trying not to lose her balance._

_"Mou~! I have already told you that that is not my name!" replied the girl in front of him._

_Atem pursed his lips in a pout._

_"But you haven't even told me your name!" he said in self-defense, leaning against the windowsill.__She just laughed._

_"True! Do you want to go out and play?" she asked quickly leaving the subject of her name behind.__He pointed to the papyri._

_"I have homework," he replied, but she just rolled her eyes and took his arm in a quick move, surprising him. "H-hey!" _

_The girl laughed again._

_"Let's go! You're a child! Children have no homework, much less work!"_

_Atem frowned unconsciously resisting being taken out of the palace. Although, to be honest, he wanted to jump with her._

_"I don't know where you are from, but here in Kemet there are children who, in fact, have jobs," he replied. "Especially me."_

_She blinked and inclined her head. Atem was exasperated at her lack of understanding.__"But you don't seem to need money."_

_"It's not for money," he sighed._

_"Then you can take a break!" she insisted. "You shouldn't be so tense! My dad says it's not good for a child to work so hard!"_

_He looked at her curiously. Who was this unknown girl who treated him as if he were one more?_

_"Do you not know that I—?" he didn't finish his question as soon as he heard the quick steps of his tutor accompanied by someone else._

_Heck! If someone saw her, she would be in trouble. Not only for being improperly within the palace grounds, but for approaching himself._

_"Huh?" s__he didn't have time to ask when he jumped out the window and landed beside her. Both ended up exactly under the edge of the window with Atem covering her mouth so she wouldn't speak and peeping up in case he had to give any excuse if they were found._

_He heard Shimon call him, the other person who accompanied him was perhaps Aknadin, or his father himself, but he didn't want to find out._

_Finally, after hearing a «maybe it was a lot of homework», he heard the door close again and could breathe easy._

_When had he held his breath?_

_He heard the girl laugh as soon as he released her._

_His cheeks warmed and his brow frowned. She wasn't making fun of him, was he?_

_"Hey..."_

_"You finally relaxed!" she exclaimed, jumping to get up and then extend a hand towards him. "Since your teachers have set you free, let's play, all right?!"_

_Free..._

He opened his eyes suddenly once his dream finished. He put a hand in his head and sat on the bed.

Why was he remembering that now?

In fact, it wasn't as if he remembered exactly.

Who was that girl?

He sighed before covering himself with the sheets. A slight ache accentuated on the back of his head and a woman growled at his side while also waking up.

Atem looked at her for a few seconds, pursing his eyes ready to call the guards before recalling the events of last night. _Oh, sure, the dancer_, he remembered rolling his eyes.

The celebration of his 19 years hadn't been exactly memorable. Many drunk men except for their priests as well as many semi-naked women dancing and hinting.

Who had come up with the wonderful idea?

Oh yeah. He had.

"Did you sleep well, your Majesty?" asked the dancer snuggling a little closer to him.

Atem suddenly got up avoiding her touch. One night had been more than enough.

"Yes. Get dressed and go. I have things to do," he ordered.

The girl seemed slightly hurt, but didn't oppose his mandate and was soon alone in his room again.

He sighed and a handful of servants entered to dress him.

What was he doing? Since when did he do it?

He clenched his fists until he felt his own nails digging into his own skin. His jaw tensed and soon the servants who had dressed him fled upon understand his mood.

He already remembered. He didn't want to evoke it.

When he left his quarters, the first thing he saw was the guards lowering their heads to greet him and the second was Mahad leaning on one of the palace's columns.

Maybe he smiled when he saw his friend, but he had forgotten what it felt like to do so.

_Dramatic_.

"Good morning, Mahad," he greeted his most loyal friend and priest.

The priest smiled gracefully making the Pharaoh frown.

"Because of Ra's position, perhaps it would be right to say «good afternoon»," he corrected.

_Oh, Ra._

How long had he slept? Without a doubt, wine wasn't a good option for him.

Atem shook his head so that they both continued on their way to the dining room ignoring that awkward subject.

Mahad told him about some of the palace's affairs, as well as about a lawsuit between two merchants and about the High Priest Seto frequenting a commoner.

"I hope he is happy with her," was the only thing Atem said about it.

Mahad watched him in silence for several seconds and Atem had to look at him to remove that strange expression.

"Talk at once, Mahad," he ordered. "Is there anything the chief of security of the palace wants to say to the Pharaoh?"

He hesitated. Atem noticed it with just a look at how he pursed his lips and inclined his head thoughtfully.

"Mahad," he insisted.

The priest looked back at him, then, straightening his back and lifting his jaw.

"One of the guards watching the town has returned early. Apparently he has seen the Thief King at the entrances of Thebes."

Atem took a deep breath.

"I see, so the miserable man who tried to steal my father's grave has returned," he said.

Mahad nodded and hesitated again before adding:

"Furthermore..."

"Furthermore?" Atem looked at him curiously.

This time Mahad took a deep breath and stopped his steps. Atem had to do the same slowly. Mahad's gaze was certainly strange, he was worried, but he didn't want to pass it on, perhaps because it wasn't something that undermined his physical health.

He looked him straight in the eye.

"Villagers say he has been seen with a—"

But he couldn't continue when one of the guards ran straight to Atem, lowering his head and passing to Mahad. The priest looked at him really surprised, but Atem only attributed it to the urgency of the warning.

He forgave him just for that.

"Your Majesty," the guard knelt. Atem didn't remember his name, so he just nodded to continue. "There is someone who wants to see you. We have tried to persuade her, but she doesn't stop insisting. She says it is very important and that you know each other."

He raised an eyebrow interrupting him.

"Someone?" he repeated. "And how important is this «someone» to demand my presence? Or as for you, the guards of my palace, have to, in fact, resort to my presence?"

The guard pressed his lips taking notable seconds to answer. Why did everyone seem to doubt today?

"She says her name is Manet and fits almost perfectly with the description we were given a long time ago," he said. "Well, something is missing, but..."

Atem's eyes, which had been puckered so far, opened at the same time when he heard that name and felt something that made his heart pound against his ears and feel it right in his throat, however this feeling was not exactly the same one he had had stations ago.

He looked at Mahad and the priest looked away. He knew it. Surely the town guard had mentioned it in his report.

Why the hell hadn't he said it before?!

Then the corner of his lips curved upward. It was very funny. Certainly fun to hear her name again after so long.

He clenched his jaw and the smile disappeared.

It was fun, but he wasn't happy.

Atem walked quickly through the halls. He knew that the same guard and Mahad were following him closely, but he had stopped hearing his words since he started walking.

An uproar at the doors was heard even when he was not even close.

_"I'm telling you there will be no problem, Ouji won't bother!"_

_"Wait quiet, please, we don't even know what you mean!"_

If he had doubts, they no longer even seemed to have existed. That was her. That was her voice. And that was the odd nickname she had given him.

He clenched his hands into fists.

_It's her._

He had to see her for himself.

"Make way!" he ordered the tumult of guards that had formed.

He heard Mahad ask him to calm down and think a little, but he just ignored him.

Feeling as if it were little by little, but being the fastest in reality, each guard stepped aside with their back straight and looking straight ahead.

Atem went through them quickly until he saw her with her back to him shouting at a poor guard who no longer knew how to reassure her.

The middle-aged guard only had to look up at him so that Manet stopped her arguments and did the same.

Their eyes connected and he could swear that those emeralds, which at one time thought they were the most beautiful within Egypt, released countless glitters.

It disgusted him.

"_Ouji!_" she rushed toward him almost tripping over her own feet. "I have so many things to tell you! Hear, the—!"

He didn't let her finish when he saw that one of her hands was going to rest on his arm.

He shook it before even thinking about it.

And then, with just one sign, Manet already had several guards holding her tightly by the arms.

"What—?!"

Atem turned around ignoring Mahad's indiscreet look, as well as forcing himself to think that Manet's surprised and hurt look didn't affect his heart at all.

Yes. He was convinced of that.

* * *

_Huh?_

Mana couldn't help resisting.

_What's going on?_

She could swear that not even the guards understood what was happening.

She looked for answers in Mahad, but he didn't even deign to look back.

Much less Atem, who was already walking back when he gave the order:

"Take her to the dungeons."

Huh?!

"_O-Ouji!_ What are you—?!"

"I am the Pharaoh!" he interrupted her so hard that Mana thought for a moment that he would hit her. "Nothing less than the closest to the Gods at this time. Don't dare call me otherwise if you don't want me to send you to execute right now."

Mana felt her throat dry as her eyes dampened.

"What are you talking about? Execute me?" she tried not to stutter. "Why?"

He smiled and looked over his shoulder.

A thin curve on his lips. Nothing else.

"«Why?» You ask," he repeated in a dangerously sharp tone before calling one of the guards by hand. "Call the scribe and say the following," the guard nodded. Mana swore she saw him tremble. "«Today, on the 20th day of Shemu, the woman named Manet will be imprisoned for committing treason against the Royal family»," he looked at Mana again. "Come find me to clarify the rest."

Mana swallowed.

_The rest..._

She held his gaze firmly, trying to find answers to her endless questions, but Atem's eyes were so empty that she didn't find a hint of sympathy.

For those seconds in which both looked at each other, Mana had a really similar feeling to when she was with Bakura.

She had a resolution at that time.

This wasn't exactly the Atem she knew.

This was the Atem destined to be hated by his people and to be killed by the Thief King.

This was the Atem she had created after her departure.

Now she understood what Bastet meant when she said it would not be easy.

All this was her fault.


	19. XVI

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

The dungeons were dark. Terribly dark and silent except for the guards who, from time to time, gave her a glimpse, although she preferred that to being with other prisoners who _had_ committed a sin.

Mana hugged her knees against her chest in the corner of the cell, her body crashed both against the iron bars and with the adobe walls, the space couldn't exceed 3m, there was no bed, much less a decent bathroom, although it's no as if she had the need to use it, she hadn't eaten or drunk anything since she came back to the past.

She took a deep breath and pressed het lips together. Both her wrists and ankles were tied tightly with the same type of thick rope, which prevented her from doing much more than she was doing.

But what was she really doing?

She felt she had no right to anything. That she deserved all the hatred and resentment that Atem directed her as exaggerated as it seemed. That all this was her fault.

She felt that way, but she wasn't going to accept it easily.

She looked up when she heard footsteps approaching and stood up as she could, resting her hands on the bars that prevented her from passing to keep her balance.

No matter how much she repented or apologized silently. If the person she wanted those words to reach didn't listen to her, it wouldn't make sense to have returned after so many problems.

She took a breath and filled her lungs with courage, or so she tried.

She had to make herself heard somehow. She had nothing to lose.

* * *

Atem's expression was... empty. It would be more assertive to say that he had no expression while reading a few papyri from his throne.

That was what Mahad thought while he saw him discreetly from his position a few meters away in the royal hall.

He was currently reviewing the new laws that had been imposed. It wouldn't be false to say that he disagreed with most of them.

High taxes. Increase in the purchase and sale of slaves... They were in the middle of shemu, it wasn't recommended when people began to have more work than in other stations.

On top of that, he looked back at Pharaoh just when Isis raised her voice.

"My Pharaoh, will we really celebrate the beautiful Feast of the Valley?" He questioned.

However, who answered was none other than Aknadin.

"It's a celebration that takes years in tradition, we can't just put it aside," he said calmly, although there was severity in his words. "Many villagers look forward to it. There will be income and the mood of the people will rise."

"So will the opportunities for the Thief King to attack again," Karim added, looking at the Pharaoh.

"Have you seen anything, Isis?" asked Mahad without ignoring what Karim said.

The priestess denied.

"For now, the future is uncertain, Mahad."

The Priest kept her gaze for a few seconds. In fact, there was someone who could clarify even some part of the future.

But he wasn't going to say it out loud.

In the silence, everyone looked at Pharaoh.

The supreme ruler remained impassive for several seconds with a look at no particular point. Surely planning both his next move and that of the Thief King.

He smiled.

"We will celebrate the beautiful Feast of the Valley," he declared without further delay.

"But Pharaoh—!" Shimon tried to say something, however Seto interrupted him.

"No, in fact, I think it's a good idea," said the High Priest with his arms crossed over his chest with a smile full of complicity with the Pharaoh. "To catch rats, traps are needed, isn't it?"

Pharaoh nodded only once.

"I'm counting on you, Seto," he said and then raised an arm. "I declare this session over, you can leave!"

One by one, the priests left their posts to go to any other place in the palace. At the moment there were only Mahad, Seto and the Pharaoh until one of the guards rushed to the three.

He bowed in quick greetings before addressing Mahad with due permission.

"There's a fuss in the dungeons!" he reported. "That woman—We don't know how to shut her up anymore!"

He heard Seto smile. Yes, he heard it.

"Looks like you have another rat to deal with, huh, cousin?" he commented, turning to leave.

It wasn't uncommon for the High Priest to act so informally with the Pharaoh. It no longer surprised any of those present, even when he said goodbye with one hand as he turned a corner.

When Mahad looked back at the Pharaoh, he found him with a dangerously indecipherable expression.

Before anything, he prepared to answer.

"I understand, I'll go now—"

"What are you saying, Mahad?" the Pharaoh interrupted him and both he and the guard swallowed at the lethal tone. "That woman wants to talk to someone, wouldn't it be better if it was myself?"

"P-Pharaoh?"

"I will go instead of Mahad," the Pharaoh replied in the face of the guard's confusion. "It seems she needs to know where she is. And Mahad," he looked at him, "I will need you to look for someone for me."

Mahad swallowed and nodded at the mandate.

He found it hard to believe that this was the same boy who had saved his life so long ago.

* * *

She didn't know how or when, but Mana ended up kneeling again tired of keeping her balance with only her hands. Her throat ached, even when she swallowed to try to calm the burning, and even breathed agitated by the effort made.

However, she knew that she had accomplished her task. Her scandal had caught the attention not only of the guards, but also of the other prisoners in the other farthest cells, she didn't quite understand why they actually claimed though.

Strong and determined steps were heard, then.

"SILENCE!"

That voice echoed even in the most remote place.

That voice was as recognizable as unknown that Mana had to look up to see him standing exactly in front of her. So close that she had to lean back.

The other prisoners shut up when they noticed who he was.

"At—"

"You are very brave, aren't you?" the Pharaoh interrupted, looking at her from above. A guard opened the bars that separated them only to then leave, then Atem leaned on one knee until his face was only ten centimeters away from Mana's. Terribly awkward. "Although I've always known that, Manet. Since you left with my mother's necklace and betrayed me."

"That's not true, Atem!" Mana interrupted him with determination.

He was wrong. He had no idea of anything, but she couldn't tell him everything.

How could she tell him the truth without hiding it?

He looked at her deadly.

"I told you not to call me any other way than «Pharaoh», do you think you're dealing with anybody?!" he interrupted her and she denied.

"I know I'm dealing with the person closest to the Gods right now," she repeated what he said before looking him in the eye. "But you're not a God, Atem. I told you that night, didn't I? Don't you remember what else I told you?"

He smiled wryly.

"That doesn't matter now," he replied. "Although, to tell you the truth, I remember a few lies. One in particular where you said you would support me, right?"

He raised an eyebrow and the smile didn't erase from his face, but that only bothered Mana more than hurting her.

"And that's what I'm trying to do!" she exclaimed. "Yes, I left. I was very scared, Atem. You don't know how much or of what and you don't need to know, but I was. I didn't take your mother's necklace on purpose, instead I'm here to fulfill my promise. I was wrong! I wanted to go back because I want to support you! I want to be by your side and—!"

"So where is it, huh?!" he suddenly interrupted her, not only shouting back, but taking her by the neck of her clothes and banging her back against the adobe. "If you came back for all those reasons, where is my mother's necklace, huh, Manet?! Answer me!"

Mana opened her lips to answer, but nothing came out. What was happening?

She tried again. She just had to tell the truth, right? That the Thief King had taken it before she could do something, but...

_«...This object will mark the beginning of everything...»_

Bakura's words echoed in a distant echo through her mind.

She heard Atem laugh. It wasn't a small laugh, it was a burst of laughter, but it wasn't happy either.

"Manet, who do you think I am?" he asked, running his tongue over his lips. "Do you think I'm the same naive prince you met a year ago?"

Mana blinked. _A__ year?_

"Do you think you can come as if nothing happened? Do you think I know nothing?" he continued speaking, bringing his face closer and closer to hers. "Well then I'll tell you something I do know... I know you're an ally of the Thief King, Manet."

He released it so suddenly that Mana didn't know if she had really heard it.

"Ally of the Thief King?" she swallowed.

_From where...?_

"That's right. Many villagers claimed to see you early today with him, in addition..."

"In addition...?" she urged him to continue, but Atem just smiled and brought his face close to her neck. To be specific, to the part closest to her right ear. "Atem?"

He was so... close.

"Hey, Manet, why do you think I came?" he wanted to know.

Mana was silent for a few seconds. Stunned by his closeness and confused by his question.

She couldn't see his expression at that moment, but she was doubting that those strong beats were only her own.

* * *

Despair. Hate. Treason. Sadness.

Atem wanted Manet to experience all that and much more. He not only wanted to deprive her of her freedom, but also to take away what every woman kept until marriage.

He didn't care if she refused, if she screamed, or if she cried. He didn't care if that emerald look lost its shine.

That would be her punishment. He cared nothing more than—

"Do it," she told him.

It was so low that it couldn't even count as a whisper.

"What?" he asked.

She swallowed. He knew it from the slight movement of her throat.

"Whatever you are going to do to me, I deserve it. If it makes you feel better, if you think that with that you will take revenge, then fine, do it. I have no objection."

* * *

Mana knew she had no right to complain. She just wanted him to know one thing and make it as clear as the water of the Nile River.

And that was...

"I haven't betrayed you, Atem... At least not in the way you think."

He looked her straight in the eye before releasing her sharply. Mana fell to the ground without realizing that her legs were trembling.

Maybe she was more scared than she thought.

"I already told you that I am the Pharaoh."

Mana was about to reply when...

"Your Majesty?" a delicate voice was heard from the entrance of the dungeons. The girl approached Atem. "They told me to come, but..."

Somehow she noticed the tension of the environment. Mana stared at her before looking back to Atem.

Both ignored the pain that their own expression showed.

He turned his back and pushed the girl against his chest to take her to the exit.

Mana felt her heart break in a thousand different ways before she even thought about what was happening.

Once Atem reached the door, he looked at her again.

"You disgust me."

Mana was speechless watching them go so close that it hurt.

Very soon her determination plummeted.

She was gone for a year, it was normal to hate her to the point of seeking refuge in other women. It was completely understandable the way he was behaving, but...

She clenched her jaw. It was terribly painful. Almost to the point of making her wish she hadn't come back.

**_«_****_Are you giving up, human?» _**

The familiar voice spoke in her head.

Mana smiled at the floor.

_You said it wouldn't be easy_. Her eyes got wet. _There is still another opportunity._

**_«Well said.» _**

Mana looked at the person who entered shortly after the Pharaoh left.

She smiled as best she could, even if it just looked like a grimace.

"You took your time."

"Then let's not lose more, Manet... No, Mana."

* * *

With that last look, Atem pushed the dancer away from him to return sooner.

He took a deep breath and looked into the shadow that hadn't left his post for a long time.

"Don't betray me," he said. "Not you."

Mahad nodded.

"I won't."

That was what they both wanted from the bottom of their hearts.

"Were you really going to do it?" asked Mahad. Maybe he couldn't assimilate everything he had just witnessed.

Atem looked at him.

"You've known me for many years, what do you think?"

Mahad was silent. At this point, nobody knew what was going on in the Pharaoh's head.

Then Atem continued on his way and Mahad entered the dungeons.

For some reason, they both knew that things would no longer be the same.


	20. XVII

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

Mana looked at the priest sideways for a few seconds. Some of the other prisoners kept yelling, but most had already shut up.

"I didn't think you were going back," he said, then, kneeling beside her. "Much less as an ally of the Thief King."

"That's not like that!" Mana interrupted him with a pout. "And you already know it!"

Mahad laughed at her reaction and she could breathe easy. Now she noticed that he was doing it to relax her, since she hadn't noticed her own restlessness.

Mana smiled slightly and leaned her back against the adobe wall.

"Mahad, you have to help me," she said.

The priest looked at her a couple of seconds studying her expression. Mana was serious, she wouldn't allow anyone to say otherwise.

"It's all right," the priest agreed. Once again, Mana was upset by his easy accessibility to things, which made her frown. Noticing her confusion, Mahad sighed. "I haven't lost my memories, Mana. I understand that something should have made you change your mind to return."

Mana nodded.

"And you don't know how many things," she rolled her eyes.

"Besides," Mahad continued his usual impassive expression, "we will also need your help."

Mana almost jumped at the words.

"Didn't you tell anyone about me, did you?!" she asked, closing her hands in the bars.

"Do you think I would do that?" replied Mahad sighing and when Mana relaxed her tense arms, he continued. "The truth is that many things have been happening here and not even Isis can know about the future."

Mana frowned and inclined her head.

"Is she supposed to?" she wanted to know.

She and the priest shared a silent look for many seconds.

At least until Mana's stomach growled in response.

She heard Mahad laugh again. His fun was at her expense, that was already certain.

He got up from the ground and headed for the exit.

"Huh? Wait, Mahad!" she called worried.

The priest stopped.

"I'm going to bring you some bread and water. Try to order everything you _can_ tell me about why you need my help. Then I will also tell you everything that has happened in this year," he said and after a few seconds looking at the walls, he added: "and other things according to how things are going."

Mana kept thinking.

"About what I can tell you?" she repeated.

"The walls speak, Manet, never forget it."

Then the priest withdrew and Mana was left alone once more in that quadrilateral.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. What could she say to Mahad, and what not? Although, to be honest, she didn't care much if someone else listened to her, the priest was right that anything could reach Atem's ears, or Bakura himself.

However, she was also very curious about everything that had happened in that year. According to the history of the time she returned, Atem only ruled for two years before he was killed, while on the original line he sacrificed himself as soon as he ascended the throne. Now she was in the middle of both times, a point where, according to how everything goes, she would change many things in the future.

And she hoped that everything would go as planned.

* * *

Mahad walked the same path of Atem up the stairs until he stopped in front of a shadow. He only had to direct a severe look to make him understand that he wasn't going to let him go.

Sighing, who came out of the shadow was none other than the High Priest guardian of the Millennium Rod.

"So you felt my presence, nothing less than to expect from the most powerful Priest of the court," Seto pointed out with the same annoyed expression on his face. "However, I don't know what that Priest has to do by talking with an prisoner of Kul Elna."

Mahad held his gaze steady.

"And I don't know what the High Priest has to do in my footsteps," he replied, without any intention of initiating anything. "It has nothing to do with you, Seto."

Seto smiled sideways and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure about that, Mahad? It's assumed that everything that has to do with the Pharaoh, especially his safety, has to do with us," he scrutinized him. "What are you planning, Priest?"

Keeping silent for several seconds, Mahad continued walking towards the kitchen being followed by Seto.

"As you heard, I'm going to take her something to eat," he replied.

Seto didn't change his expression.

"That's it?" he questioned.

Mahad nodded once, grabbing a basket and putting some leftover bread from the morning. Maybe they were going to give them to the animals in the afternoon, but there was no need.

"That's it," he said. "And, even if it wasn't, I don't think it's your business."

"I think it's my business," Seto said, crossing his arms, implying that he was very sure of what he said. "It's someone who has to do with the Thief King and, in fact, it's a woman who carries a penalty for betraying the Royal family."

"We both know that the Pharaoh isn't in the best mental condition," Mahad said, putting water in a clay pit, he didn't give the impression that he wasn't taking Seto's words seriously, but the simple act of not stopping what he was doing drove the High Priest crazy. "He hasn't even thought of a punishment, if he really plans to do it."

"But she's still someone who betrayed him."

This time Mahad did look up.

"A betrayal that, in fact, was for his sake."

Both stopped their steps and their words when they heard some servants walk nearby. None did it on purpose, but rather by instinct.

Seto remained expectant for a few seconds, analyzing, perhaps, every word that had left Mahad's mouth.

"You talk as if you know something we don't," Seto accused finally.

Mahad thanked that the Pharaoh's cousin was as intuitive as discreet. None of the servants heard him say it and hoped it would stay that way if he wanted to keep listening to what he planned to say.

"More than I know, Manet knows," he said in a breath. "Maybe you should also listen to what she has to say. The whole story, I mean."

Seto clenched his lips.

"Does it matter, even?"

"That girl wanted to return home as soon as possible and has now returned declaring that she had something to say to the Pharaoh," he said, seeking to find the button of curiosity in the High Priest. "You don't want to know what she had to say? Know if it's a good, or a bad thing for the kingdom?"

Seto didn't respond instantly.

* * *

Atem was having a hard time concentrating since a persistent headache hit him after seeing Manet.

_Really_... He put a hand to his forehead and made impromptu massages. They were only small circular movements that helped him stay calm, but didn't lessen the pain at all.

"Do you feel well, your Majesty?" Isis asked, giving a slight bow to find him in the halls.

Atem waved his other hand as if frightening a fly.

"Yes, just... my head hurts," he sighed.

"Hum... have you been sleeping well?" the priestess asked, hitting the nail exactly.

Atem refrained from answering with just a nod. The truth was, no, he hadn't been sleeping well.

Isis gave another bow and informed that she would tell one of the servants to bring him some medicinal tea. Atem paid no attention to the name she gave and just continued on his way to his room.

He saw Mahad and Seto sharing a few words as they crossed, it might be said furiously, from the kitchen to another unknown side that Atem didn't even want to find out.

To be honest, he wanted to know why Mahad had gone to talk to Manet, but he didn't want to give it more importance than necessary to the subject.

At least he was with Seto now, it was totally abnormal, but he preferred that.

So he just kept thinking about the basket with bread in his hands.

He will surely feed the animals, he was convinced and the persistent pain intensified for several seconds.

_"__Do you have cheetahs as pets? Wou! That's amazing!"_ _said the girl of her memories._

_He, as a child, frowned amused and confused at the same time._

_"Is it?" __he asked._

_"Yes!" she nodded repeatedly emphasizing her amazement. "I've never seen one in person, only in photos!"_

_Curious. Atem had never met someone who didn't know these amazing animals closely, just as he had never heard the word «photos»._

_"How strange you are, foreigner."_

_"I know!" _

Atem swallowed and leaned against the palace walls avoiding being seen by the guards so he wouldn't have to answer questions.

Why was he remembering those things?

Once the memory made sure to settle very well in his memory, the pain ceased almost completely.

He took a deep breath and brought his right hand to his Millennium Puzzle.

He didn't understand what was happening. He didn't want to understand it.

* * *

Feeling how his large intestine ate the thin one, Mana heard his stomach growling for the umpteenth time. It hadn't been more than an hour since Mahad had left, but the lack of light inside the dungeons made it impossible for her to know if it was already dark, or not.

She was practically falling asleep from starvation when she heard footsteps approaching from the entrance. She looked up only to observe Mahad, who handed her bread and water —too literal— through the bars.

"What happened?" she asked with her mouth full of food.

The priest ignored her slip and pointed at the door.

"It took me time to convince someone."

Mana raised her head again, frowning in confusion. She was about to ask what he was talking about when the High Priest entered.

"What—? Why Seto—?"

"I'm not here because I want to, woman," the High Priest interrupted. "I really have no interest in what you have to say, but if it has to do with the Pharaoh, then I will listen."

"But... " Mana looked at Mahad.

The priest nodded.

"I don't know why you came back exactly, but from what you told me, I assume something was wrong in the future, isn't it?"

Seto looked shocked at Mahad.

"Future?"

Mahad nodded and pointed at her.

"This girl you see here, comes from a future that not even Isis can see."

"Huh? Mahad!" Mana scolded him, but the priest just silenced her with his eyes.

For a few seconds, Mana got scared. She didn't know what the priest was planning and that really bothered her.

"Just answer something," the Priest continued. "Does it have to do with the Thief King?"

Mana bit her lower lip and nodded to confirm it.

"Then you can trust Seto," Mahad said with a slight smile. "Whatever it has to do with Pharaoh and the Thief King, it also has to do with us, doesn't it, Seto?"

The High Priest took a deep breath before nodding.

Then Mana ended up sighing too.

To make everything more understandable and avoid getting lost in her own story, Mana drew on the ground with the nail of her index finger. She practically recounted everything she had told Mahad, but omitted the fact that Atem sacrificed himself and added, instead, about his public execution. She mentioned the changes in time and history, and also talked about why the Goddess had sought her.

Of course, there were many facts from the original timeline —like Seto becoming Pharaoh— that she put aside, because she didn't want ir to be affected by her intrusion.

And finally, she explained about the Thief King Bakura. She mentioned the same thing as the book she read and commented a little about Zorc, although it isn't as if she knew much more.

When she finished, she drank the last drops of water left in the well brought by Mahad and observed both priests.

While Mahad didn't seem to have trouble believing her, Seto was constantly running his fingers under his chin.

"I see, this is certainly unbelievable," he finally say.

Mana smiled.

"Unbelievable in the sense of incredible?"

"No. Unbelievable in the sense that I don't believe you," Mana almost lost her balance because of the rudeness of his words.

Mahad crossed his arms. At this point, Mana wanted to do the same, however her arms were still tied.

"But there are many points we must believe," said the priest, looking at Seto, who in turn nodded, surprising Mana.

"«... With an unknown power ...», isn't it?" Seto sighed after repeating the phrase in the book that Mana mentioned. "It seems that we will have to make some changes to the plan."

Mana looked at him with a frown.

"What? What do you mean?" She asked, but Seto denied as he turned to leave.

When Mana tried to ask what was happening, Mahad shook his head and let Seto leave.

"Let's leave that for later, he knows what he does," he said. "Now it's my turn to speak."

"Speak?" Mana repeated and then shook her head. "No, it's not necessary, rather I think that—"

"Don't you want to know why the Pharaoh calls you «ally of the Thief King»?" he interrupted her.

Mana closed her lips as soon as she heard that and looked him straight in the eye.

"Isn't it because people saw me with him today?" she asked with a frown.

Mahad denied.

"It's not that simple, Manet."


	21. XVIII

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS._**

**_Hey, I know you're reading this, so I'd love to know if you're liking this fic as much as I do. Leave a review pls! _**

* * *

_The huge vases that decorated the empty spaces of the palace also turned out to be very good places to hide. Although, of course, Atem hadn't even thought about it._

_Removing a little awkwardly from the lack of mobility, Atem dared to finally ask the question he always forgot to ask._

_"Foreigner, are you sure it's—?"_

_"Sh! They'll discover us!"_

_However, the girl with green eyes like emeralds didn't allow it. She was more focused on hiding than himself, even if she wasn't the one who escaped from his classes every day since they met._

_Once the guards who were looking for him, as well as the priests overlooked the bustling vase, the girl exhaled relieved to soon leave with a little complication._

_She then extended a hand to Atem to help him. He took her a little insecure and she smiled at him._

_"Since I must return home today, we will spend all the time we have left together."_

When Atem woke up from that dream the next day thanks to the fascinating rays of sunlight that entered his balcony, he didn't do so with dissatisfaction or uneasiness as he had usually been doing for the past few weeks. He didn't feel tired by the continuous work of his mind evoking facts of the past nor bothered by the simple fact of remembering.

When Atem woke up from that dream he felt... sad?

No. What he felt was not exactly sadness. He could feel touches of nostalgia, peace and longing. A feeling of longing so intense that, without realizing it, he brought his left hand to the center of his bare chest.

With his heart still upset and with the discomfort in his body, Atem was dressed and accompanied by a couple of guards to the dining room to have his breakfast; however, the supposed calm of the day was interrupted when he watched several guards turn to Karim and Shada.

He couldn't hear a little of the conversation, but the urgency of their expressions was enough for both they and himself to go to the designated place.

"Is something wrong, Karim?" Atem questioned reaching his side.

The guardian of the Millennium Scale greeted with a nod, stopping for a couple of seconds and then continue walking, before answering:

"There seems to be a kind of uproar in the dungeons," he explained without delay. "Is about—"

Atem rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Manet, isn't it? Is she again demanding to speak with someone?" he interrupted.

Karim looked at him for a few seconds.

"Not exactly," he replied.

And before Atem could ask what he meant, a voice interrupted him strongly, being from the well-known woman with green eyes.

"Don't even think about it, Mahad! I should go! You have to let me go!"

Atem frowned at the name of his most loyal friend among Manet's words. He quickly understood why they had drawn so much attention.

"I'm sorry, Manet, but I can't do that. I promised not to betray the Pharaoh," there was a pause. "It's not something you can do."

"Then teach me what to do! Mahad, please! You can not! I must—!"

"What is going on here?" Atem made his way through the guards until he reached the front of the commotion.

He saw Manet kneeling in her cell and Mahad watching her stand outside. Both looked at him as soon as he entered, but neither responded instantly.

"What's going on here, Mahad?" he repeated. His voice came out deeper and harder than planned.

The priest looked at him.

"My Pharaoh," Mahad gave a bowing salute. "Manet has just revealed part of the Thief King's plans."

"That's not true!" Manet shook the bars as soon as she heard Mahad. Atem could very well recognize the despair in her eyes and voice. "Mahad, please!"

"Silence!" Atem interrupted her before looking at the guards that had crowded around. Karim and Shada among them. "Everyone return to your work! There is nothing to see here!"

* * *

Mana swallowed. How had they come to that?

She knew that the guards left when everything remained in a restless silence and looked up only to find Atem in front of her.

He smiled.

"I couldn't expect less from a traitor," he said, turning around. "You betray even your own allies. What a crap."

Mana pursed her lips. She and Mahad shared one last look before he left the room.

"Damn!" she exclaimed hitting the bars with the palm of her hands. The vibrant sound expanded throughout the dungeons.

She closed her eyes tightly and recalled the conversation she and Mahad had been having just a few hours before everything exploded.

_"After the Pharaoh returned from his trip on the Nile River, the first thing he did when he learned of your disappearance was to send for you for every part of the whole kingdom," Mahad began giving her time to assimilate things._

_Mana blinked confused._

_"All Egypt? That's too much!" she exclaimed. She felt flattered, but almost touched the obsession, according to her point of view._

_The priest nodded once, leaning on the bars in front of her and turning his back._

_"He gave a detailed description of you and sent to your search almost all the guards guarding the exterior of the palace," he took a breath. "However, even though many times someone said they had seen or talked to someone with those features, there was only one time when a woman spoke of someone called «Manet»."_

_"Manet?" Mana almost jumped at her pseudo name. "Does that mean they—you found the original «Manet»?"_

_"Yes and no," he replied arbitrarily. "The woman claimed to have known a couple a long time ago that had a daughter whom they called Manet who coincided with the features given by the Pharaoh, but she said we could no longer find her. Neither Manet nor her parents nor anyone who knew her."_

_Mana frowned._

_"Huh? Why?" Mahad kept silent and Mana had an idea when she remembered her conversation with Bastet. "The big change there was— It can't be!"_

_Mahad nodded._

_" lived in Kul Elna during the massacre and, although there was no guarantee that they were really the same person, the fact that Bakura began to attack the palace and the tombs of the previous kings more often didn't help just went in that direction and I couldn't even do anything about it. That, and now you don't have his mother's necklace makes everything more suspicious."_

_Mana pouted. Then Manet had died during that event, most likely by Bakura under the influence of Zorc, as Bastet said._

_She sighed._

_"He took it. I didn't give it to him because I wanted to, you know?"_

_Raising a hand to his chin, Mahad nodded silently._

_"That's a good thing," he said as if he speaking with himself before looking at her. "I can use it against him."_

_Mana shook her head hard._

_"Don't. He said he would use it to attract Atem, you can't fall into his trap."_

_"The thing is, I'm not the Pharaoh. The trap is not made for me, nor for my power," even though Mana didn't understand half of what he said, he kept talking._

_"In any case, let me go," Mana asked, pointing to herself. "When I met Bakura, he seemed to know me from somewhere. He also called me a traitor, I can—"_

_"No."_

_"What?"_

_Mahad turned and looked at her interrupting her arguments._

_"Mana, according to everything you've told me, you are certainly not an opponent for Bakura."_

_"Ahm... I don't know how to feel about it," she bit her lip. "He is just a thief. In the worst case he has a group. He didn't kill me before, he won't kill me now. I can help you with all this problem, I can avoid—"_

_"There's something we haven't told you about what happened in Kul Elna," Mahad interrupted her again. "The massacre wasn't because of a revolt, or an attempted coup d'etat. See this?" Mahad raised the so-called Millennium Ring. "This article has the souls of all the people who died that day. The reason for doing so was to gain a power that no one could match, but if we can do it, if we can invoke our Ka, that means that Bakura can too. And maybe not just him. Perhaps that entity called Zorc enhances Bakura's power as much as the souls of Kul Elna empower ours. This is not something you can do, Mana."_

_Mana shook her head._

_"I hadn't heard of that before."_

_"It's because we kept it a secret," he kept silent for a few seconds. "I will prevent— No, we will prevent the Pharaoh from becoming whatever it was that you had to return to this time. Then you can clarify things once and for all with him."_

_Mana shook her head from side to side repeatedly._

_"No, no, no! You can't do something so dangerous! At least let me go with you and help you!"_

_Mahad smiled at her._

_"You will have to trust me."_

Mana opened her eyes. Why? Why did Mahad take risk doing something so dangerous for her?

She looked towards the exit of the dungeons. A yawning guard watched her. _If I only could..._

She shook her head. Getting into more trouble wasn't an option. She took a deep breath.

However, she couldn't help worrying about the priest's next steps.

_What are you planning, Mahad?_

* * *

Mahad walked back to Atem's side in a tortuous silence that he could only interpret as the Pharaoh in his thoughts.

"It was to be expected of you, I suppose," the Pharaoh commented suddenly, stopping, "but how did you make Manet speak?"

Mahad shrugged.

"That doesn't matter," he replied, as if it wasn't important. "Pharaoh, I would like to talk to Seto about all this and make a new plan before the Beautiful Feast of the Valley."

Atem nodded perhaps thinking that he didn't have to ask for it that way and let Mahad leave.

* * *

Waiting in the palace library, Seto was reading a ton of old papyrus with maps and locations on them. His expression remained impassive even when he heard Mahad arrive.

"Are you sure, Mahad?" he asked after hearing the priest's plans.

Mahad nodded.

"It's the least I can do. I think taking it by surprise will be the best."

Seto thought for a moment. He really didn't care much about what he had planned, he cared more about what would happen next according to how things went.

"I understand, then we shouldn't take longer."

The priest of the Millennium Ring was about to answer affirmatively when he felt something.

Something Seto could clearly feel too.

But before anyone could react, a sound similar to an explosion shook the palace walls.


	22. XIX

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

When the walls of the palace stopped shaking enough that they no longer tripped, all the priests quickly went to where everything seemed to have started: the Royal Hall.

However, since Seto and Mahad were in one of the areas farthest from the place, they were the last to arrive just to see the so-called Thief King with some other bandits entering through the main entrance.

The young Bakura seemed to have fun with what was going on around him, which wasn't much less than an attack on everyone present.

Isis invoked her ka, Spiria, to help some of the servants who were injured by the assault that managed to open wide the strong gates that should protect the Pharaoh.

"My Pharaoh!" exclaimed Mahad approaching Atem, who had fallen to the side protecting the youngest daughter of one of the servants. "Are you okay?"

The scared girl waited for Pharaoh's confirmation to run to Isis's side in search of her parents, while Seto wasted no more time to invoke his ka, Duos, and begin his counterattack with the other priests.

"So this is the power of the Thief King," Atem commented, rising and ignoring Mahad's help. "No wonder the guards couldn't do anything."

"Yes, neither do I," Mahad agreed with a nod before preparing for battle. "Go, Illusion Magician!"

The ka of his most loyal priest quickly crossed the room to defend the other servants whom Isis couldn't reach.

While his main duty was to protect the Pharaoh, the Thief King, nor any of his subjects, had come so far; nevertheless it seemed that his power far exceeded that of his peers' ka.

They wouldn't last long, so once his Illusion Magician finished defending the servants, he soon interfered in the ceaseless battle.

Then the Pharaoh began to approach the thief.

"Wait, Pharaoh—!" Mahad tried to stop him, but it was in vain when one of the bandits attacked him directly, causing him to have to think about his own life.

* * *

The corners of the Thief King's lips curved up when he saw Atem walking towards him. Many of the priests, like Shimon or Seto, tried to go to his side, but several bandits prevented them at the same time that their ka tried to stop Bakura's.

"Huh... So the great Pharaoh deigned to go into battle," he scoffed.

Atem clenched his lips before responding by moving his arms to emphasize his words.

"Stop this, Bakura! Why are you here in the first place?!" he demanded.

The Millennium Puzzle moved to the rhythm of their gestures making Bakura smile.

"I'm coming to recover what is mine," he said, referring to the millennium items. "No... What belongs to my people."

"You can't do that!" Item denied. "Give up at once, you are at a disadvantage!"

Bakura laughed.

"At a disadvantage, you say?!" he exclaimed and pointed to the side, where his ka ended up defeating Karim's dragon. "Diabound can with you all!"

Atem shook his head from side to side only once.

"I don't mean the ka," he replied. "We have one of your female allies in the dungeons! If you don't want to—"

"Female allies?" Bakura repeated, pursing his eyes as if it were a bad joke, interrupting him. "I don't have female allies, Pharaoh. Women are weak in many ways, they are useless to me at all."

Atem stared at him. He was the one who was listening to the bad joke.

"Hm... Really?" He raised an eyebrow with a smile on his lips so as not to show his confusion. "Are you telling me that Manet is not yours?"

"Manet?" Bakura smiled again with a notorious mockery in his expression. He waved his hand as if frightening a fly and leaned on his left foot. At that time, the Illusion Magician and Duos were the only ones facing Diabound. "HA! You mean that slut? Don't make me laugh, Pharaoh! Even if she was one of my allies, it wouldn't stop me!"

On the side of all the fuss, Seto shouted:

"Don't listen to him, my Pharaoh! He's just trying to fool us!"

"That's right! We'll still hear what Manet has to say!" exclaimed Mahad in the midst of all his effort.

Atem looked back at the Thief King, who kept his attention deadly on Mahad before turning to him.

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, I don't really care if you think Manet is on my side; after all, she is an invaluable piece," he shrugged with a smile and not bothering to explain what was said when a gust of wind moved both his hair and his red robe before heading to his Ka. "Diabound, that's enough! It's time for the main dish!"

The great gray winged monster, very similar to a demon, flew straight towards Atem. The ka of their priests couldn't do much when other ka —perhaps from some of the infiltrated bandits— got in their way.

"Attack the Pharaoh, Diabound!"

Atem clenched his fists feeling really frustrated and confused. Many injured, probably some dead and certainly all with low morale. That wasn't from a good Pharaoh. That shouldn't be happening.

"This has been extended enough," he said, looking up at both Bakura and Diabound. "Looks like you forgot something!" Atem raised his arm. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but he knew he could do it. "Let me remind you, I can invoke the Egyptian Gods! Legendary gods of Egypt, please listen to my call, in the name of every Pharaoh that was before, now I beg the awakening of Obelisk!"

A huge light descended from the sky just as it appeared from the bottom of the earth. The ground shook and it seemed that the sky thundered, only for everyone to exclaim in surprise the appearance of the gigantic monster.

"I invoke Obelisk the Tormentor! Attack!"

The great Egyptian God prepared to hit Diabound and the Thief King. Many of the bandits had escaped and only those who appeared to be more loyal remained next to Bakura.

"It can't be!" shouted Bakura. "Diabound, attack first!"

* * *

Mana felt the rumble of all the walls and wasn't ignorant of the powerful light that illuminated the halls of the dungeons that held her.

She wasn't distracted enough to let go of something that was happening. Something important.

A pressure in her chest told her. A feeling similar to when Bastet had appeared in front of her, only much more powerful.

**_ «I told you that other Gods were already supporting the chosen Pharaoh.» _**

Bastet's comment in her head brought her back to reality.

Mana leaned against the bars and looked towards the exit of the dungeons, clenching her lips.

"That just tells me that things are getting worse, isn't it?" she asked feeling helpless and useless.

**_ «In fact, this isn't something you could have changed.»_**

"What do you mean?"

**_ «That what had to happen, is happening, human. Everything that has happened so far was within what could happen, wasn't it?»_**

Mana supposed she had to nod, so he did.

As much as she wasn't satisfied, in the end Bastet, like all the Gods, knew what should happen and at what time.

And she too, at least a part.

She clenched her fists around the bars. At this time she was in the part of the story she didn't know. The one that wasn't in the books, the one that had remained as hidden as the origin of the millennium Items and the name of Atem.

_At this moment I can't do anything for you_, she closed her eyes. _This is the destiny that gives you a mark in history_.

_Oh, Gods_, but how she wanted to be free at that moment to hit a good slap to Bakura's entire face.

* * *

Looking really at a disadvantage when Diabound lost most of its strength and all the priests regained theirs, Bakura let out a click with his tongue.

"This is not right," he murmured, both to himself and to that being that rested within him.

**_«I told you it was still too soon.»_**

Obelisk had a reaction then, looking directly at Bakura. The Thief King smiled mockingly at God.

"Oh well, I guess we have time until the day comes," he shrugged before starting his retreat. "We will be seeing each other again, chosen Pharaoh!"

* * *

As soon as Bakura left the Royal hall, Atem fell to his knees letting Obelisk disappear as well. That had taken more of his energy than planned.

The priests ran to his side.

"He's weak after that fight," Shada declared, looking at Seto.

The High Priest nodded.

"Yes, it's a good opportunity," he looked at the others. Isis and Mahad supported each other not to fall. He staggered himself and even Shimon was kneeling beside the Pharaoh. "But I doubt that any of us will be in top condition after this."

Atem nodded.

"Don't follow him for now," he ordered, rising slowly with Karim's help. "He said he had time until the day comes, we just have to be more alert than before. That the guards warn of any strange movement and that the doctors take care of the injured at this time."

Mahad then approached him.

"If I may, my Pharaoh, I have an idea of where the Thief King hides," he declared, surprising everyone. "If I leave as soon as possible—"

"And where did you get that information?" Interrupted Atem, scrutinizing his friend. "From Manet?" Mahad nodded once and Atem felt as much anger as worry." Didn't you hear what that guy said?! If she's on his side, or not, we can't trust her!"

Mahad returned the most severe of his eyes, not as a priest or as a friend, but as the mentor and guardian who had seen him grow.

"And why should we trust the Thief King, precisely?" said Mahad, making Atem, however pharaoh, shut his mouth. "I'm sure that even Seto supports me in this, isn't it, High Priest?"

Atem looked almost desperate at his cousin because he was on his side, but Seto only nodded with his eyes closed expressing his seriousness.

He then watched the other priests. Everyone returned a certain look.

"Of all of us, the most qualified for this is Mahad, my lord," Shimon agreed with a soft smile.

"A surprise attack in the place where you should feel safe is a good point," Karim observed, also referring to what happened recently.

Isis remained silent with an indecipherable expression, but her gaze was so intense that she declared how much she trusted Mahad for that matter.

Even Aknadin, like his uncle and not a priest, put a hand on his shoulder.

"I have seen it with my Millennium Eye, Pharaoh," he said seriously. "At this time, no matter how much we have the Gods on our side, it is better that we use every possible opportunity."

Atem swallowed and turned around starting to walk.

"Good," he agreed, refusing to look at Mahad, "but you won't go alone, take a group of apprentices with you, or some guards."

Although he didn't see it, Atem knew that Mahad smiled when he thanked him for his trust.

However, Atem couldn't say anything else. Not to him or his priests, at least.

* * *

"What the hell are you planning?!" Mana literally jumped as soon as she heard Atem's furious voice heading towards her and hitting the bars at the same time with the palms of his hands.

"W-What?" she frowned. "Why are you so mad? What happened?" she asked, but Atem could only breathe angrily, as if it were taking all his strength not to hit her.

"Don't pretend you don't know anything!" he ignored her questions. "What exactly did you do with Mahad?! Why the hell does he believe so much in you?!"

Mana was slow to respond, rather she didn't.

"He already left?" she wanted to know. Her voice trembled feeling very guilty for causing so many negative feelings to Atem. "So soon?"

Atem didn't answer.

"Atem, please, you have to believe me!" asked Mana, sticking to the bars. "I haven't told him any lies, but I don't know what he is thinking either! You have to stop him, please!"

As long as the battle had lasted, Mana could clearly think why Mahad worried her so much.

And she hadn't heard his name in the future. They hadn't even mentioned it in the books. She really wanted to say it out loud, she wanted to change history without caring about everything else.

However, without even bothering to look at her, the Pharaoh turned to return where he came from. Mana called him again and again, but he didn't return. No one appeared either and she understood that history couldn't be changed unless she became the paradox that she shouldn't be.

* * *

Although Manet believed that Mahad had already left, the truth was that "as soon as possible" of the priest didn't arrive until the earliest the next day.

Atem watched Mahad preparing to leave with a handful of guards and apprentices from the comfort of his bedroom balcony. He couldn't say he was calm, his clenched fists gave him away.

Shimon looked at him.

"You must trust the strongest of your court, Pharaoh," he said before adding in a more paternal tone, "and the most loyal of your friends."

Atem nodded silently. He trusted Mahad, but he didn't trust Manet... or that was what he wanted to convince himself.

But the truth was that he wasn't sure what he was feeling. Fear and worry, as well as a slight envy, or perhaps jealousy, were part of all the feelings that swirled in his chest.

Looking away a little, noting the only priestess of his court, he could tell that he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

* * *

"Mahad," Isis called him approaching.

Mahad pointed at something to one of the men who accompanied him and turned to the young woman.

"Are you coming to say goodbye?" asked the priest in part.

She kept a serious look.

"Are you sure of this?" she replied instead.

She and Mahad remained silent for a few seconds sharing a deep look.

The priest smiled at her, then, with the utmost calm that characterized him.

"You saw my future, didn't you?" Isis was about to speak when he denied, interrupting her on purpose. "I don't want to know."

"But Mahad—"

He put his hands on her shoulders.

"I am happy that you care so much for me as to break your rule of not telling anyone's exact future," he breathed deeply. "But this is something I must do, Isis. Not only for the Pharaoh, but for everyone that's important to me."

He hoped that his strong gaze, as well as the bond that had united them for so many years, would convey everything he wanted to say.

The priestess remained silent. She understood everything very well, but that didn't prevent the pain caused by her best friend when he left.

"Is nothing really going to stop you?" she asked to make sure, he shook his head. Then, despite everything, Isis smiled as best she could. "Then there's nothing else I can do, but let me tell you something, at least," Mahad nodded and she took a breath. "We will see each other again, won't we?"

It wasn't a confirmation of his future, it was a question like any other. A silent promise

Mahad smiled.

"If your heart is heavier than a feather."

And it took Isis everything she had not to fall apart in tears or hug him with enough force in order not to let him go.

"One more thing," Mahad said before leaving. Isis looked at him. "Tell Seto, until I return, he protects the Pharaoh with everything he has."

Isis nodded, although they both knew there was no need to do so. Seto would do it.

* * *

The trip lasted for hours, as Mana had mentioned.

At that rate, it was certain that Bakura was waiting for him, if he had already realized what he planned.

And he was absolutely right when he reached the entrance of the destroyed city of Kul Elna.

"Hey... So a brave man came to stand up for his Pharaoh," Bakura scoffed smiling.

He didn't seem fully recovered, after all it hadn't been more than a few hours, but he seemed confident enough to make Mahad's apprentices doubt.

"I came to retrieve something," Mahad declared, "and incidentally to defeat you. You and your people."

Bakura seemed to have fun with every word that came from his lips, but Mahad didn't let that bother him.

Instead, the Thief King sent one of his bandits to bring something to later raise it.

Mahad's eyes widened slightly more than normal, but he seemed to remain impassive.

"If this is what you are looking for, why don't we do an exchange?" he smiled. "Your Millennium Ring for this thing, so nobody will have to lose life unnecessarily."

Mahad sighed and gave the group that accompanied him a look. None looked away from the thief, no one doubted, then neither would he.

"As I said, I have come to defeat you. Don't apologize later."

"Oh, believe me, I won't," the corners of the thief's lips spread maliciously as he looked at Mahad. "Stupid Priest, I will stay with the Millennium Ring and with all the souls you have brought me!"

Mahad took a breath. Whatever was going to happen, both his men and him were already prepared for both Plan A and B.

At last he could be proud to be the best priest of the Pharaoh... No, his best friend.


	23. XX

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

Atem banged his fist hard against the wall when the sun finished its afternoon cycle.

"Pharaoh!" exclaimed their priests worried.

Isis was the one who came to check his torn knuckles, but Atem couldn't care less about the care.

"Harming yourself, you won't get anything, my Pharaoh," Shimon scolded. "You must calm down."

Atem swallowed.

"How do you expect me to be calm when Mahad hasn't returned?!" he exclaimed. His priests said nothing to contradict him and that's because they all felt the same way. Shaking his head and breathing deeply, Atem continued. "I'm done with this. Go find him. No, I'll go this time too."

"Pharaoh, we can't do that," Isis said without looking at him. "Mahad wouldn't want you to risk your life like that."

Atem scanned her. She knew something, probably her necklace had shown her what would happen, then...

"My Pharaoh," Seto entered the room, they hadn't even noticed when he had left. His expression was impassive as always, more bitter than any other emotion, but Atem knew his cousin better than that. He looked up at him. You should come. Two of the apprentices who accompanied Mahad have returned," he declared, turning to start walking again.

Atem separated from Isis without noticing the priestess's affected gaze and reached Seto in the hallway.

"Then Mahad—!" the emotion in his voice couldn't be hidden. He wanted to hear good news, he didn't want it to be what he was most deeply afraid of.

However, the look that Seto gave him was enough for Atem's hopes to plummet once more.

The High Priest waited a few seconds before answering:

"_Only_ two of the apprentices who accompanied Mahad have returned," he continued walking.

It took Atem a while to process what was said by his cousin and it was even harder to believe. The pressure that was already in his chest intensified and he had to swallow saliva to undo the newly formed lump in his throat.

_Mahad... No..._

* * *

The pain was intense, he couldn't deny it. He had many bruises along his body, possibly more in his arms when used as protection against the priest's attack.

Diabound had been destroyed and most of his minions had lost their lives, but he didn't feel bad at all. After all, Bakura had obtained what he wanted.

The Millennium Ring hung brightly on his chest. Now, more than before, he could feel the true power to increase inside.

And that was only part.

**_ «You should stop them.»_**

Zorc was heard louder and more present, less like an echo and more like someone who was right next to him.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Bakura smiled. "The Millennium Ring is ours and thanks to Mahad we will obtain the other Millennium Items."

The shadow inside seemed to rejoice. Little did Bakura know that he was just another part of his great chess game against the Gods who locked him up, however thief _King_ he was, the pieces wouldn't move alone.

"And then, once you're released, you'll be able to keep your promises."

Because after all, the one who killed a king first was the victor.

**_«As long as you comply with my orders, there will be no road to defeat.» _**

Yes. It just had to be that way.

Zorc just hoped this piece didn't ruin everything he'd been planning for so many years.

* * *

"You left him alone and fled?!" Atem asked almost in a roar.

He completely forgot his status as Pharaoh and his body moved on its own until it took one of the apprentices by the neck.

"W-We— We didn't want to!" exclaimed the one who was slightly farther away, but without separating from his frightened partner.

Atem had rarely seen Mahad's students. He was clear that they were a handful of talented and young magicians, but beyond that he trusted his priest enough to leave him the evaluations.

Despite all the fury that ran through his veins, his hands clenched into fists and his breath completely uncontrolled, Atem managed not to lose more sanity and suddenly released the young magician.

Seto put a hand on his shoulder and, sighing, shook his head with his eyes closed.

"It's not the time, Pharaoh," he said.

Atem pursed his lips and looked once more at both apprentices. The two were even younger than him, perhaps between the ages of thirteen and fifteen, their robes were torn and bruises and wounds in some visible areas of their skins had darkened and swollen enough to know that they needed to be treated.

The boy whom Atem had attacked couldn't be more than fourteen. He was even smaller than him, with extremely short hair so as not to distinguish the color and reddened and swollen eyes, perhaps for having been crying.

As a person, he felt bad about attacking him in his fury and sending him into battle despite his young age.

But as Pharaoh, he was upset and disappointed at his lack of strength.

His friend, the one who had spoken before, stood in the middle, then, defending the child. Unlike the other, his hair was straight and shoulder length, ebony. He was taller than Atem, but he didn't look boldly from above. This boy didn't seem to be over fifteen.

He sighed to calm down, but before he could send a doctor to call, or ask for an exact explanation of what happened, both young men began to speak.

"Master Mahad said it would be fine," the one closest to Atem began. "He made me and Thabit wait before they started fighting."

Atem looked at the so-called Thabit nod repeatedly.

"He didn't want us to face the Thief King or his fellows, because he was afraid something would happen to us or our ka. H-He said that this wasn't a battle for us."

It seemed that at any moment the boy was going to break into tears.

"That sounds like something Mahad would do," Seto agreed in a discreet enough voice that only Atem could hear.

"So you just came back?" asked the Pharaoh.

"We did not!" denied the one with the longest hair, retreating as soon as he realized whom he had raised his voice to. "I-I beg for your pardon."

"It doesn't matter, continue," Atem ordered.

Both young men shared a look and nodded at the same time.

"M-Master Mahad told us that he had another mission for us and that we should be alert..."

_After a powerful attack by the Illusion Magician, a strong light caused the Thief King to fall on his back and Diabound disappear._

_ A shiny object came out of one of the thief King's robes pockets, stuck in the sand, raising some dust and letting a red glow shine.__ Mahad turned his gaze to the two younger apprentices hidden behind the walls of one of Kul Elna's destroyed houses._

_ "Now!" he screamed. _

"Thabit summoned one of his smallest and fastest Ka, and sent it to pick up the object that had fallen," Kosei continued, who turned out to be the name of the long-haired boy. "And then..."

_ "Now return to the palace!" Mahad ordered back into action and attacking some bandits who threatened to approach._

_ "But Master—!"_

_ "If you don't return that to the Pharaoh, then you'll have twice as many assignments when I come back, understand?!" Mahad smiled at them and with a single attack raised a cloud of dust to give them time._

Kosei was silent for a moment and then it was Thabit who spoke again.

"We did what he ordered us then," his gaze fell. "Kosei defended us from some of the thieves who followed us," that explained his appearance. "But on the way— On the way we felt... The master and his ka..."

Atem swallowed.

Why? Why did Mahad have to do something as dangerous as that? Why, even knowing what could happen, did he do it?

He had to blink continuously, refusing to look up, to keep his eyes from getting wet and his vision fogging.

"Seto," he called his cousin. Atem no longer knew how to stop having his fists so tight. "Call Isis and tell her what happened. Tell her to come to help these guys."

The High Priest bent down to accept the mandate and quickly went in search of the priestess.

Being in a sad and awkward silence, finally Atem could look up again at those two young magicians.

Both were holding as much as they could to not cry. Both tried to pretend to be stronger. Both of them felt guilty and helpless.

_Really_... He understood why Mahad had sent them back. They weren't mentally prepared for a battle— a real one.

As Pharaoh, he could understand that.

"So?" Atem asked, confusing the boys. "What is the object that Mahad wanted to reach me despite everything?"

This time Kosei looked at Thabit and after a nod, the youngest reached into the pocket of his dirty tunic.

Atem's eyes widened both with surprise and with a sad realization when he took the object in his hands.

_Why Mahad?_

* * *

When Isis finished curing the boys, she sent them to rest in their bedrooms before heading back to the Royal Hall.

Her chest ached, but she also knew she wasn't the one who suffered the most.

She found the Pharaoh leaning against one of the large vases that decorated the halls. He turned his back, but Isis could tell what he was doing.

"Mahad sent your mother's necklace back," she said to get him out of his meditations.

The Pharaoh nodded pressing the object between his fingers.

"You— You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" he asked, looking up at her. Isis replied only with her eyes. "Why didn't you say anything about it?"

The priestess looked outside the palace through one of the windows. The stars that night were brighter.

"Because, even if I had, nothing would have stopped Mahad's determination, and you know it, Pharaoh," she answered honestly.

"Determination?" Atem repeated shaking his head as if he didn't believe what she said. "Now the Thief King has the Millennium Ring, the boys who returned are traumatized, lives were lost... If this was what was going to happen, what was all his determination for then?"

"For you to trust Manet again, perhaps," Isis suggested, looking at the Pharaoh this time as one more boy, not as the highest representative of his kingdom, nor as the closest to the Gods.

Atem shook his head.

"Manet lost all reliability when she left and lost this necklace," Pharaoh said, observing the object between his fingers rather than facing Isis.

She had patience.

"Are you sure about that, my Pharaoh?" Isis questioned knowing that she had hit the key point of Atem when she didn't hear him reply. "Are you sure Manet lost the necklace? Or maybe you are thinking that she gave it voluntarily to the Thief King and then returned here as if nothing had happened?"

"How else could it be?" Atem spat, leaning his hands against his knees, leaving the necklace in the middle of both and squeezing the fabric over his skin.

Isis shook her head and turned around.

"I don't know and I'm not saying that you should blindly trust her again, but then why did Mahad try so hard to return the necklace despite the consequences?" she looked at him without turning and didn't see the Pharaoh, but a normal and confused boy, someone who had just lost a loved one and who needed another to comfort him. "Aren't you just looking for more excuses not to risk getting hurt again?"

Isis started to walk. She didn't hear any kind of reaction from Aknamkanon's son and she also didn't want to waste more time giving him more things to think about.

Atem was an intelligent boy, after all.

Instead, she continued on her way through the extensive hallways of the palace. Some guards greeted her and even crossed Seto along the way, but none questioned each other's actions.

He came from the place she went to.

The dungeons.

* * *

Even though she had only ingested water and bread throughout the days she had been there, Mana really didn't feel hungry after hearing what Seto came to tell her.

_Did I cause this?_ She wondered looking at the floor. _Was it because of what I said?_

But Bastet didn't answer. The Goddess seemed distant for a long time and Mana didn't understand why.

If her chest felt that way... How would Atem be at that moment? How would the others be?

"I'm going to be clear to you, Manet," she heard the voice of the priestess who had healed her hand a year ago. Mana looked up surprised to see her after so long, but Isis didn't wait for her to respond. "Although I know how much Mahad seemed to esteem you, I don't understand the reason. I don't do these things as usual, but I have searched for answers in my Millennium Necklace. I tried to look for something about you, something clear, but nothing has come out. Not a past, not a present, much less a future. It's as if you didn't exist and yet you are here in flesh and blood in front of me. It seemed strange to me that the Pharaoh trusted you so much a year ago and I am surprised that even Seto has come to leave you food, I am sincerely worried thinking about what I'm going to do is right, or not. I'm thinking if my confidence in Mahad is— was enough for now to be able to trust you."

Mana looked at her. Their eyes met for several seconds in silence. Those of Isis shone both in intrigue and firmness.

"What exactly do you want to know, Isis?" she inquired with a doubtful slowness.

At this point, Mana no longer knew what she could say and what not. Nor to whom.

"Who are you, Manet?" she asked without separating her eyes from Mana's for a second.

Also, without knowing if what she was going to say was convenient, or quite the opposite, Mana kept her eyes on Isis when she replied:

"Would you believe me if I told you that I'm practically the same as Bakura's source of power?" she asked. "Yes ... An intruder in your life, who has the power to bring everything right, or take everything wrong."

Isis scrutinized her.

"Are you admitting your alliance with the Thief King?" Mana could sense a touch of disappointment in her voice.

She denied

"I'm not. I am admitting that maybe I can be of help to you—to the Pharaoh, if that is what you really want," she put her hands on her chest trying to emphasize the truthfulness of her words. "If you allow me, I—"

But then she saw a smile on Isis's face and stopped her speech.

"Talking so formally doesn't fit you," she said, approaching the bars of her cell and then carefully removing a key. "I can feel the determination in your words as well as the truth in them," she entered the cell and took out a dagger that had been hidden in her clothes to cut the ropes that still held Mana by the wrists and ankles. Isis took her hands in hers. "I lied when I said I searched your timeline," she confessed. "It is true that I didn't see a future, but I found a little of the past and much of the present. Manet, I can understand your strong feelings of wanting to be there for Pharaoh. The place you come from is unimportant thanks to that."

Mana corresponded to Isis's smile. She knew that Isis meant Kul Elna, but what she said helped her anyway.

It was true. Past, present or future; Mana, or Manet; her feelings for Atem would never change.

Maybe she could feel the real Manet, deep inside, think the same.

"Won't you have any problems?" she asked before leaving in search of Atem.

Isis denied.

"I'll take care of them. Go get him."

Mana smiled in thanks.

* * *

"I was wrong?" Atem asked Seto in his chambers. "Have I been wrong all this time?"

"That is something that only you can answer, Pharaoh," said his cousin.

"But all—"

"We're all nothing," Seto interrupted. "You are the Pharaoh. The one with the last word," he clarified without even looking at him. "We think the best for you and the kingdom, we try to do it, at least, but in the end only you can decide for everyone."

Atem looked him straight in the face. The torches he had lit not long ago seemed to illuminate less that day.

"Then you think I was wrong," it wasn't a question, so he didn't expect any answers, but it came anyway.

Only it wasn't from Seto's deep voice.

"I do not believe it that way!" exclaimed a more acute and feminine voice.

Atem's lips parted slightly in amazement.

"Manet…"

Neither he nor Seto questioned her sudden presence in his rooms.

She was breathing hard and sweating, as if she had run all over the palace until she got there.

Atem could hear the guards a little further, asking about someone's location, and he understood the reason; however, who did something first was nobody but Seto.

"I leave him to you," he told Manet, coming out the door and closing it behind him.

He supposed that he would give some indication to the guards before turning his gaze to the girl standing just a few meters away from him. Her emerald eyes almost reflected the low light of the torches and her voice trembled when she spoke again.

"Atem, I—" she began, but he interrupted her shaking his head.

"No, it is I who must apologize," he ignored her gaze. He didn't feel able to face her anyway. "I have treated you badly. Everything that happens now is because of my selfishness upon not even wanting to listen to you. Maybe now Mahad... I really was wrong, I am—"

"It's not like that!" she interrupted him, making Atem look up when he heard her footsteps approach. "Yes, you treated me as if it were trash literally and I am not one of the girls who let themselves be treated like that, but I understand, Atem... I would have thought the same in your position. Not only were you wrong, I was too."

"Huh?"

Manet smiled at him and he found himself unable to keep her eyes.

"I was scared, I told you, didn't I?" Atem nodded, it wasn't one of his favorite memories, but there it was. "The girls where I come from don't get married until after twenty years, not the majority, at least."

Atem frowned.

"Is Kul Elna like that?" he wanted to know. Being part of Egypt, he thought that as everywhere they married even before that.

But Manet denied.

"Huh... Ah ... I don't mean Kul Elna," she laughed a little nervous before looking back into his eyes. "But I wasn't only afraid of that, but of my own feelings... They evolved so soon for you that I couldn't handle them. I assumed that if I left, you would find the woman destined for you and that these feelings would go away, but with the passing of the days, the feeling of wanting to be with you, of supporting you and of protecting you didn't disappear. They stayed with me all this time until... "

Atem stared at her for the first time and she did the same by extending a hand to his cheek, which she hesitated a few seconds before placing it on his skin.

It was warm

"Until..." Atem urged her to continue.

"Until I remembered it wasn't the first time I felt this way," she continued. "Do you remember, Atem? You and I met a long time ago. We play in the gardens and hide in the vases..."

"We met?" he repeated and then the image of a green-eyed girl came to him as an illumination of Ra himself. "You were... that girl."

Manet nodded. Atem could see the edge of her wet eyelashes and even felt his own sight clouding.

"Yes, the foreign girl who arrived as soon as she disappeared. Just like a year ago," Atem unconsciously brought his hand over Manet's. He felt the rough marks that the ropes left her and circled her wrist firmly with his fingers. "And I think I love you since then."

It was so direct. So concise, that Atem found himself surprised to hear the words coming from her lips.

So sincere. So loving

A strong sense of guilt ended up completely blurring his vision and then, using the hand she had extended, he pulled her toward him to wrap her in his arms and hide his head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."

It would never be enough to feel totally exculpated.

But then he realized, when Manet whispered «enough» to his ear, that none of that mattered anymore.

He had accepted his mistake and she understood him better than anyone.

He didn't know if he had completely forgiven himself, if he would do it one day, or if she would be thinking about the same as him at that moment.

But if they both felt the same...

Atem stopped thinking as soon as he separated from Manet and looked her straight in the eye.

Wouldn't it be better to stop running away from their own feelings?

Stop doubting?

Then he kissed her.

* * *

This time, when Atem approached, Mana felt no strangeness or danger. His eyes showed no hate and suspicion, but quite the opposite.

She was sure his eyes reflected the same as hers.

That is why she didn't put up any resistance when his lips touched hers. Nor when his arms brought her closer to him or when she herself brought her hands to his neck to prevent the kiss from ending for more air they were missing.

Mana didn't think about her minimal experience or everything Atem had lived with other women since she left. It was the first and only time she experienced both love and desire and how Atem caressed her carefully, fearing to harm her and apologizing continuously, she knew it was the first time he did the same.

And although she really wanted to hear her real name come out of his lips instead of her ancestor's, she couldn't change the fact that it was their souls destined to be together. It didn't matter when, where or how.

Yes, their souls.

Then the last torch that lit the room went out.

* * *

**_So... Did you like this chapter? _**


	24. XXI

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS._**

* * *

Pressing her eyes a little, Mana found herself regaining consciousness after all she had slept. She opened her eyes only to find the other side of the bed with the messy and empty sheets.

"Hm?" she blinked repeatedly at sleepiness before sitting down and running her hands over her face, carefully preventing the sheet covering her from falling.

The sun hit hard against a part of her body, but it also framed a silhouette she knew very well, so she looked up to find Atem watching through the balcony.

He was already dressed, although he didn't seem to have left the room at any time.

"Good morning," Atem said as soon as he noticed her gaze. A calm smile adorned his face.

Mana reacted from her reverie and smiled too.

"G-Good morning!" she cleared her throat, realizing that her voice had sounded louder than expected. Atem didn't change his smile until he looked back at the horizon, then Mana noticed the tension. "Are you feeling well?"

Atem nodded.

"Yes, just... I'm thinking," Atem replied.

Mana raised both eyebrows.

"About what?" she asked, although the question came out much faster than her brain sent.

The Pharaoh was silent a few seconds before putting his hand in one of his pockets.

"About this," he said.

Mana's eyes widened as soon as she saw the accessory that Atem held between his fingers. She would have jumped if it wasn't because she would surely trip on her own feet.

"That's—!" she exclaimed. "When—?"

But she stopped her euphoria when she saw Atem's eyes fall, without ever finishing any sentence.

"Mahad," was the only thing he answered.

Then Mana's gaze also fell on some point in the scrambled sheets over her body. Seto hadn't mentioned anything about it, although she couldn't tell if it was on purpose or out of oblivion.

Be that as it may...

"I see," she said. "So Mahad recovered your mother's necklace—"

"No," Atem interrupted. "He recovered _your_ necklace."

"Huh?" she looked up just to see Atem heading towards her.

The Pharaoh sat beside her and, carefully, spread his arms around her neck approaching, at the same time, her face. Mana had to close her eyes by reaction when her heart beat increased.

But then, a simple click, next to a cold sensation on her collarbone, made her open them again.

The circular ruby shone once more on her skin.

And she wasn't ignorant of the strong amethysts who looked in her direction.

Mana returned the gesture, silently asking what was going on, only for Atem to stretch one of his hands to place it over hers and so they both interlaced their fingers.

"A year ago I told you that I wouldn't pressure you to be my wife," he began. "But now that I have you under my sheets and in my room, I can only think that I would never like to wake up any other way." Mana blinked a couple of times feeling his cheeks warm up, he didn't speak _so_ _seriously_, did he?

"This is...?" she inclined her head with an embarrassed smile and brought her free hand toward the collar, separating it and sticking it to her body constantly in a kind of nervous gesture. "Atem, perhaps you—?"

A year ago, although for her less than a month, she remembered being nervous and scared...

He nodded.

"This time I want you to really be my wife, Manet," he declared.

But now, Mana was nervous and happy. So excited that she just didn't know what to say, or where to jump.

A laugh escaped from her mouth, rather they were enough giggles that reminded her of when she was fifteen and was in high school.

Atem looked at her confused, but she couldn't stop.

"Manet?" he called her.

She looked up at him. He was worried, or perhaps ashamed, so she quickly shook her head.

"Nothing, nothing," she replied and looked at the necklace. "It's just that, where I come from, women receive luxurious rings instead of necklaces."

Atem blinked confused.

"Do you want a ring?"

She quickly stopped laughing.

"No, no," she shook her head and smiled, touching the accessory trying to reflect more seriousness. She took a deep breath to try to sort her ideas into her brain and exhaled so she could say them as she wanted. "They can have fancy rings and everything, but I, on the other hand, not only have this necklace, Atem," she looked at it. "I mean, I have it, but... Thanks to this necklace I not only have your feelings and mine, but also those of your father and your mother, as well as ..." she pressed the ruby. "Mahad's feelings and desires," she added a little lower.

Atem's fingers tightened slightly on hers trying to be a gesture, more than anything, comforting.

However, Mana also felt him nervous because she hadn't responded clearly yet.

"So?" said Atem.

A smile from ear to ear, with flushed cheeks and eyes clouded by so many emotions, was what defined Mana's expression in response.

"Of course I want to be your wife," she exclaimed to wrap Atem in her arms, completely forgetting the nakedness of her body and ignoring the almost imperceptible blush on the Pharaoh's cheeks, who ended up returning the hug, bringing their bodies even closer together.

Mana knew there was no proof of Manet and Atem's original marriage, but she also knew that that wouldn't affect the timeline at all. After all, he—

She frowned and her smile disappeared while still hugging Atem so he wouldn't ask anything.

It wouldn't affect anything, _right?_

After all, he...

* * *

Once the preparations were finished, Bakura smiled proudly of the whole plan he had managed to organize.

The voice in his head hadn't spoken much since the last time, but he supposed it was because he was preparing for everything that would come quickly.

_Just wait, Zorc_, he said. _Today we will both take our revenge._

He pressed the Millennium Ring between the fingers of his left hand. He could feel the power flow through his soul.

**_«And everything will multiply when you get the other Millennium Items.»_**

Bakura nodded, looking from the safety of the distance to the royal palace. Several of their groups were mobilizing around, camouflaged and hidden.

He couldn't wait for the main event.

* * *

Neither Atem nor Mana had any idea how much time they spent inside the room. No one bothered them or knocked on the door unless it was one of the servants bringing food. It was almost as if they were alone in the world.

But, as calm as it was, Mana couldn't help feeling uneasy for some reason. Hef fingers constantly fiddled with the collar as she leaned against Atem's torso.

"And now, what's next?" she asked to make conversation topic.

Atem looked at her.

"Huh?"

"What's next now?" she repeated, leaning on her elbow to look at him. "You asked me to marry, are we already married, or will there be a ceremony?"

Blinking a couple of times, Atem held on for a few seconds before laughing. Mana raised an eyebrow.

"When you say so, I don't know if you're demanding something else, or if you just don't care," he said, running a finger through his eye before sighing and looking directly at her with a smile. "I would have to call the scribe to formalize our marriage."

"I see," Mana nodded, settling back over Atem. "Like a _alderman_, huh..."

"A what?" Atem wanted to know.

She just denied.

"Where I—"

"Where you come from, things are not like that," Atem interrupted her with a soft smile. "I didn't know that in Kul Elna things were so different."

Mana sighed.

"I'm not talking about Kul Elna," she denied making Atem look at her. "I told you about my home a year ago, didn't I?"

He pursed his lips.

"You mean that place on the other side of the _Earth_?"

Mana laughed at the pronunciation of the unknown word and nodded before having a realization. Her eyes fell on Atem's regretful expression.

"You—Did you think I lied about that too?"

Really, Mana didn't know how to think at the time.

"I'm sorry," Atem apologized without looking at her. She pursed her lips, but before she could tell him anything, he continued as he took her hands. "But now I want you to tell me the truth, Manet."

Mana looked at him with both eyebrows raised and lips slightly open at the sudden statement.

Although she had Atem's hands on hers, she managed to remove them and hide them under the sheets without raising suspicion about whether something was wrong.

She looked at the balcony as if someone were suddenly going in there, only to find an excuse not to look at Atem.

She no longer knew what to say, or to whom.

* * *

Atem watched her hesitate and a slight feeling of doubt settled in his heart when she avoided his gaze, but he removed it quickly.

He had to stop doubting.

"I want you to tell me about your true past, Manet," he said. "I want to know about the real you. The one that played with me when I was a child and the one that said she would support me. I want to know where in Egypt you have been and if you have lived in other kingdoms. I want to meet your family, which you talked to me about a year ago, and I want to know about your connection with the Thief King and Kul Elna, but..."

Manet bit her lower lip before slowly turning her gaze to him. Atem smiled at her, understanding that she wanted him to continue.

"But I will wait, Manet," her eyes shone in misunderstanding, as when she was a child. "I will wait for you to be ready to tell me everything. We still have time, after all. All the time we want."

Seeing her lips tremble, Atem thought she was happy, but instead, when he looked back at her emerald eyes, he found a sad expression.

An incomprehensible sad expression.

As if she knew something he ignored.

And as if she couldn't tell him.

"Atem, I—" she started touching his hands, but the loud knocks on the door interrupted her.

Atem frowned and rose to approach the door. Manet didn't stop him.

The one he found at the door was the High Priest Seto with a surprisingly worried expression.

"Pharaoh, the people—!"

_BAM!_

The already known sound of an explosion rumbled in his ears leaving a slight annoying beep in them.

Atem didn't need to hear anything else and quickly left the room closing the doors behind him and ignoring a worried Manet knocking to be opened.

The guards who watched him looked confused and he returned the gesture, only more deadly.

"Don't let her out unless I come back, or need more security," he ordered, and after they nodded, he followed Seto.

Both went directly to the Royal Hall.

* * *

Many desperate screams were heard and the thick black smoke that warned of the presence of fire in the surroundings didn't stop for any reason.

And yet Mana paid no attention to anything going on outside while desperately knocking on the closed door of the room.

"Please let me out! Let me out! Atem! Someone!" her hands were already sore, but they didn't seem to be opening.

"Sorry, Miss Manet," she heard someone say outside, probably a guard. "The Pharaoh has given us orders not to let you out."

"He can not! He—!" Mana pressed her lips placing her forehead against the door. Of course he could. He was the Pharaoh. "Atem..."

_It can't be! So soon? I..._ Mana didn't know what to think, or what else to do.

She felt all the despair running through her veins.

Why did that have to happen right then?

_Bastet, please!_

* * *

"They are attacking us, Pharaoh!" Shimon exclaimed when he saw Atem enter.

"Not us, the people," Isis corrected the nervousness of the Royal tutor. "My Pharaoh, the Thief King is attacking the villagers. It seems that—"

"He's challenging me," Atem concluded, squeezing the Millennium Puzzle over his chest. "This time I won't be left behind."

"But Pharaoh!" his priests tried to stop him, but he denied.

"Now I have to take my role as the maximum representative of Egypt," he said. "I will take that thief to the realm of shadows with the help of the Egyptian gods."

None of his priests could contradict him by seeing so much determination in his words, but none offered to stay either.

"We will all go," Shada agreed.

And without wasting any more time, they left the palace.

Atem was the last, because he had to leave some orders to the guards. He still followed the way to his priests, but not before taking a final look at the balcony of his room.

Yes, now he had to go.

* * *

Isis waited for the Pharaoh at the door next to Seto on their reliable horses.

"The power to change things, huh..." she commented remembering her conversation with Manet.

Seto looked at her. Maybe he knew what she meant.

Both hoped to have that power.


	25. XXII

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS. _**

* * *

The subsoils of Egypt, oddly enough, were cold and damp, although the hot air of the area where they were could be felt for a long time. Sometimes sand and dust formed small eddies on the ground, just as some tiny stones peeled off the ceiling every time a strong movement shook them.

Those subsoils were very little known. In fact, it wouldn't be a lie to say that only a few knew them.

Long and extensive passages built in a much older time, all methodically armed to be intercepted at some point and then lead to another.

For Bakura, who only had Zorc and a torch as companions, apart from the Millennium Ring, it was no problem to move within those confusing paths. He walked them even before Kul Elna was destroyed.

And he knew very well which road led faster to where he wanted to go.

He smiled when the strange gravestone with several slits of different shapes shone under the fire. It was an extensive and very dark place, like a cave hidden enough not to be discovered, and yet there he was.

He placed the Millennium Ring in the place where it belonged and felt Zorc rumbling inside his mind.

A powerful aura emerged from his body, then, giving him chills at all pleasant, but not annoying.

** "Now, come, forgotten souls of Kul Elna!" ** he exclaimed. **"It is time to claim the revenge you deserve!" **

For a moment, nothing happened, but within a few seconds, a thunderous sound similar to that of a landslide next to a strong tremor under his feet made the corners of his lips curl upward.

One by one, each soul that seemed completely furious and resentful, was leaving the interior of the ground and rising away from Bakura's vision, but all taking exactly the same path to the capital: Thebes.

"Then... I wonder what you will do now, Pharaoh," he looked at the path of souls.

Zorc was also smiling inside.

* * *

Going as fast as they could on their horses, each of the most Atem priests tried to help the villagers, fight the bandits and discover what was happening exactly, all at the same time.

But things got complicated when those strange beings with no form began to attack them without fatigue.

"These... are they souls?!" Isis exclaimed, dodging one to summon her Ka at the same time. "What is happening?!"

Seto did the same quickly riding next to Atem and thus be able to defend it, as it seemed to be the point of most beings.

Very soon, everyone had summoned their ka successfully and was about to fight side by side.

However, it didn't seem to be enough.

"We have to separate," Atem ordered, putting himself at the head and calling the attention of his priests. "At this step they will corner us all and we won't be able to help those who need it or find who we are looking for."

Although Seto seemed to want to oppose the idea, he was interrupted by Shada, who stole his turn to speak.

"Understood," said the Millennium Key priest, calling his Ka to attack again. "I will stay here."

Atem nodded.

"All right," he said and looked at the others. "The others go in other directions and help whoever needs it, send the villagers to the safety of the palace and then find me."

"Where are you going, Pharaoh?" asked Aknadin.

"In search of Bakura, he shouldn't be far away," he said, looking for some effective route to the place he wanted to go.

Although what he saw most at the time was fire and smoke, so much black smoke that the day had soon darkened.

He clenched his lips before brandishing his sword.

"Go!"

All the priests accepted the order and each took a different path without thinking at any time that it could go wrong.

* * *

Mana no longer had the strength to strike or keep screaming. She really felt that her throat was going to explode and Bastet hadn't responded to any of her calls so far.

Her eyes focused on the ruby of the necklace.

But before she could keep thinking about how to get to Atem, a strange movement drew her attention to the balcony still open and with the curtains transparent furiously fluttering by the force of the wind.

Mana, with a frown, approached only to see a strange entity of whitish color and without definite form approaching directly towards her making her back down by pure reaction until her back knocked against the door.

She didn't scream or call for help, the strange entity stopped exactly in front of her face.

And then it was taking shape.

Mana's lips widened when she recognized her own face from when she was younger reflected, but with her hair and some other completely different features.

**_ «Fear not, I brought her here.»_**

Bastet's imposing voice rang in her head for the first time in what seemed to be days.

_W-What is happening?_

She wanted to ask and shout a thousand more things, but she stopped for the sake of her mental health and summed it up to a single question.

**_ «As you are now you cannot do anything. Your current soul doesn't have the power to invoke ka spirits, but she... »_**

The entity flew from one side to the other surrounding Mana. As if she wanted her to understand something.

However Mana suddenly felt the need to extend her arm. An invisible force pushed her and the entity didn't oppose at all.

As expected, she went through it immediately and without resistance, but it didn't disappear, instead, the entity surrounded her arm and seemed to melt into Mana's body until it disappeared.

Several images came, then, to Mana's mind. A burning town, a gray-haired boy... They were memories. Painful memories until suddenly they just ended in darkness.

It was about Manet.

_ I see_, reasoned Mana watching her limbs as if they were something new. _It's—It was the soul of the Manet of this time_.

**_ «Exactly. In your original time there were information of Manet that never arrived. The original Manet, as you would call her, arrived at the palace as a candidate for Priest apprentice after the incident in Kul Elna. As an apprentice to Mahad, she had great talent and formed strong bonds with Prince Atem.»_**

Mana nodded. So that was how they had met...

She pressed the ruby over her neck between her fingers. She could feel the desires of both souls fused within. She—They wanted to help stop Bakura at all costs.

She didn't know how, or what, but something appeared inside her...

No, something woke up.

"But, although I have been granted this power, I cannot leave the room," she looked at the door. "The guards—"

**_«The door is not the only way out.» _**

Mana looked toward the balcony and swallowed. It wasn't as if she had never escaped from her house through the window, but, again, what floor was she currently on?

She peered over the windowsill and took a deep breath to return her gaze to the sheets on the unattended bed.

She gathered courage.

_Don't die, Atem. I can still— I can—! _

Yes, that was what she wanted to think.

Bastet said nothing about it.

* * *

Atem didn't ride very far when a silhouette appeared in the middle of the dense smoke. For a moment, Atem thought it was some villager, but soon his brow frowned when he managed to see exactly who he was.

The King of Thieves smiled at him with cold mockery.

"I knew you couldn't be far away," Atem declared trying to reassure his restlrestless horse.

Bakura laughed.

** "So, Pharaoh, shall we start?"** asked the thief, although his voice was heard, somehow, differently.

Atem didn't let that confuse him, nor did he let him intimidate him.

But before he knew it, Bakura had already summoned Diabound.

"Go, Diabound!"

The demon of different appearance began to launch his attacks without bothering to aim directly at Atem, but at the houses and people that were a few meters away.

He was involving the innocent villagers, Atem couldn't allow that to continue.

Then he invoked, incredibly quickly, the second God who would help him.

"Osiris!" he exclaimed. "Go!"

The huge red dragon soon intercepted Diabound's attacks to prevent more people from getting hurt; However, every blow to Osiris's body was a blow to Atem's body.

Bakura laughed at his pain.

"Pharaoh, let's see this as a game," the thief declared, still smiling and instead pointed toward the town of Thebes. "How many villagers do you think you can save?"

"Damn you!" exclaimed Atem. "Osiris, attack Bakura directly!"

The god gave a roar to the heavens and much energy began to gather in his snout.

He threw it and Atem was sure that the powerful light was even seen by his Priests no matter how far they were.

There was no way anyone would survive that, he thought, but when he looked up again.

"HAHAHAHA!" Bakura's thunderous laugh filled the Pharaoh with terrible astonishment.

When he sharpened his eyes to see what had really happened, he found an impenetrable wall of those formless entities.

"What?!" he couldn't believe it, much less that those entities helped Diabound minimize Osiris.

His body was writhing in pain because his soul was linked to Osiris's, but it was still too early to let him go.

"How does it feel, huh, Pharaoh?!" asked Bakura after he finished laughing. "How does it feel to have a whole village of dead people against you?!"

_A whole village?! Can not be!_

"That's right!" Bakura answered his silent question. "Receive all their hate!"

Souls seemed to boost Diabound's attack while he, at the same time, held Osiris tightly.

Atem had no choice but to release the god so that neither of them would suffered more than necessary and the attack struck almost head-on against his body, thus making the ground under his feet tremble and crack.

"Ugh!"

With only his hands, Atem managed to support himself from the unstable ground by avoiding falling into the strange abyss that had formed. He couldn't see the bottom because of the darkness and smoke, he couldn't guarantee his own safety if he fell.

But that was something that only Bakura could use in his favor.

Bakura squatted in front of him and smiled sneerily as he stretched his arm to take the Millennium Puzzle chain.

** "So it wasn't so difficult to defeat the chosen Pharaoh, after all,"** Bakura said, to the confusion of Atem pulling the pendant off with one pull. **"There are two, five are missing." **

Atem frowned. _Huh?_

But not much happened when, apparently, two of Kul Elna's souls arrived. Bakura's smile widened, while Atem inhaled in realization.

"No... It seems that only three are missing," he took the golden objects that souls gave him.

One was the Millennium Eye, while the other was about the Key.

_Aknadin! Shada!_

"I see you worried and desperate, Pharaoh," Bakura scoffed, standing over Atem's fingers, making him scream in pain. "Too bad you can't see the end of your kingdom!"

Then Atem had no choice but to release the ground that hurt him. He heard Bakura's macabre laugh, before seeing a powerful light emerge from his Millennium Puzzle.

"W-What?!" Bakura exclaimed in surprise.

The light blinded Atem, but not before letting him see the silhouette of his most loyal servant.

_Mahad?_

* * *

Dodging people and avoiding guards, Mana managed to leave the palace as quickly as she could.

She had managed to spot the strong explosion to the north, as well as the great red dragon —which Bastet recognized as a another god— fighting against another being of similar size.

She supposed Atem must be there, so she tried to start her way, but someone's voice distracted her.

"Manet, watch out!" Mana reacted just in time to evade the attack of a guy almost completely covered with a black cape.

However, it wasn't she who struck back, but it was Seto, who attacked the bandit with his own horse before piercing him with his sword.

Mana thought she would vomit because of the blood, but surprisingly it didn't make much impact.

"Seto, Manet!" called Isis arriving on her horse too.

Not only her, but a priest whom Mana recognized as Karim and the old tutor Shimon.

"What is everyone doing here?" asked Mana a little dazed.

"The same thing I ask you, where were you?" asked Isis.

"The Pharaoh didn't let me out," Mana replied and then pointed to where she was going. "I was just going—"

"We were going there too," Seto interrupted.

The whinny of one of the horses caught her attention.

"You should return," Karim said.

Mana denied.

"No, I can help!" she exclaimed, putting her hand on her chest just below the necklace. "Atem, the Pharaoh, he—!"

"Your determination is strong," Shimon told her, "but you cannot even invoke a ka, you will only distract Pharaoh."

"No, I can—"

"Wait! " Isis got into the debate.

When everyone looked at her, they found her focused and her necklace shining brightly.

"A prediction? Right now?" asked Seto with a frown.

Mana didn't know very well what he meant, but as soon as she turned Isis again, she found the priestess staring at her.

"I don't have Shada's powers," Isis said, "but I can feel... Manet, until now I haven't felt this power in you."

Mana nodded.

"Just... Take me, please, I'm sure I can help Atem."

* * *

Seto and Isis shared a look and before Karim or Shimon could object, the High Priest took her on his horse quickly and easily.

"Just don't get in the way," he told Manet before shaking the reins of the animal and leaving.

Isis, Karim and Shimon followed.

Karim looked at the priestess at the same time as Shimon, they both had the same question on their lips.

"A strange power," said Isis. "No, I not only saw a power, but a very strong presence."

"A presence?" repeated Shimon exalted.

"What do you mean, Isis?" asked Karim.

But the priestess refrained from responding and only made her horse match Seto's.

She would kept for herself that she had felt the presence of a God.


	26. XXIII

**_Hi everyone! This is the last chapter of The Mistery of Pharaoh's Beloved. I would like to know what do you think about all the story en general. Just say what you wanna say. That would help me a lot really._**

**_Well, even if this is the last chapter, there is still an epilogue. I didn't really like it though._**

**_Sooo it was a interesting experience translate a multi-chapter fic and if you want me to translate another, feel free to tell me!_**

**_Let's continue and thanks for following this._**

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS._**

* * *

Gradually, Atem was feeling every part of his body again, every limb, every sting for the blow —or the blows received, as well as episodically remembering everything that had happened so far.

And, although his last memory before falling made him open his eyes, it wasn't until he heard loud sounds of explosions and attacks that he rose as if a spring had pushed him.

"I won't let you hurt the Pharaoh, Bakura!" said one of those involved in the battle.

Atem recognized his voice immediately, but he wasn't sure until his gaze focused better.

"Mahad?!" he called confused, but mostly glad.

The ka— No, the fusion of Mahad's soul and his ka smiled at him. There was no doubt that he was his most loyal servant, as well as the most powerful priest in the court.

He heard the thief snap his fingers.

"Tsk! Now that we had the opportunity," he complained. "It doesn't matter, go, Diabound!"

The demon roared loudly before attacking Mahad.

The magician defended himself and also returned to the attack while Atem tried to think of some plan.

The place where they had fallen was too unstable to invoke one of the Egyptian Gods and, even if it wasn't like that, he doubted if he could do it without the Millennium Puzzle.

The thief smiled at him with a sneer and Atem was forced to press his lips.

"What's up, Pharaoh?! Are you running out of ideas?" Bakura scoffed at the same time that Diabound hit Mahad.

Atem felt the same blow on his body, although he tried not to externalize his pain so as not to worry his friend.

"He has become stronger," he concluded.

Mahad, flying at his side, nodded.

"It is due to the Millennium items," he explained and then denied. "No, not only that."

Both looked at the whitish beings that flew forming a barrier in front of Diabound.

Mahad launched a strong and rapid attack, but it broke down as soon as it hit the souls.

"The souls are protecting him, at this rate—ugh!"

A strong amount of energy struck Mahad causing Atem to lose his balance from suffering the same amount of pain.

"M-Mahad!"

The magician's body slammed into one of the walls causing some pieces of the roof to come off, as well as the walls to shake.

Bakura laughed.

"What do you do talking so much? This has not even begun!" he extended an arm. "Keep it up, Diabound!"

The demon again launched an attack against the magician and, therefore, against Atem.

_This is bad!_ Atem got up to try to do something, but even when he looked for a feasible solution, all he could do was watch another ka descend through the hole that had formed. It was overshadowed by light, but it was able to deflect the blow effectively to save Mahad.

Then someone showed up.

"Atem, Mahad!" said the familiar voice bathed in relief. "Good... I arrived on time."

"What?!" Bakura shouted when the other ka started attacking Diabound.

"Manet!" Atem and Mahad chanted with surprise, one more worried than the other.

"To think that I would be saved by you... Since when can you summon a ka?" asked the magician.

Manet smiled as she winked.

"I had divine help, it could be said," she said, looking for a way to get down with them.

Atem was, above all, confused and angry, so much that, as soon as Manet reached the ground, he ran towards her to hold her shoulders.

"What are you doing here?!" he shouted. "I strictly ordered the guards—"

"Not to let me out, I know, " Manet smiled more calmly and held one of her hands over Atem's. "Did you really think I'd listen?"

They looked at each other for a few seconds in silence, seeking peace in each other's eyes.

"Do you plan to flirt in the middle of this?" until Bakura interrupted them with a mocking smile before looking directly at Manet. "Eh... So in the end you came, traitor, just in time to see the life of Pharaoh disappear."

Although Atem had an outstretched arm in front of Manet to protect her at any moment, she stepped forward to face the thief directly and respond to his statement.

"That is what we came to avoid, precisely," she replied under the gaze of those present.

Bakura pursed his eyes.

"«We»?" he repeated just for another attack to strike against the spirit barrier.

The attack raised a dense cloud of dust that prevented seeing what was happening for several seconds, but when Bakura looked up again, Atem and Manet were no longer alone.

Duos, Spiria and Curse of Dragon were at their side at the moment when Mahad and the new ka returned to their position.

"You guys!" Atem exclaimed in surprise when he saw Isis, Seto, Shimon and Karim in front of them.

The priests smiled at him.

"We would have arrived earlier, but the horses went crazy," Isis commented before looking up at the magician. "Mahad..."

Mahad smiled at her.

"In this way I can always serve the Pharaoh," he explained first of all and then smiled. "I'm glad to see you."

The priestess nodded with a small smile.

"As expected of the most powerful!" Shimon praised.

Then everyone watched Manet's ka, which was flying briskly next to Mahad.

"I didn't know you could summon ka," Atem commented, observing the spirit of blonde hair and strange dress.

Manet smiled at him.

"I learn fast," she said.

"Although it's not as if we explained everything," Karim said.

"What a beautiful meeting!" interrupted Bakura. "But, you know, they've just made it easier for me to find the items one by one. Now I can have them all at once!"

Seto smiled.

"Try it if you can! Go Duos!"

The High Priest's ka went to attack Diabound directly with his sword while Mahad and Manet's ka launched a long-distance joint attack.

Spiria and Curse of Dragon did the same, but Bakura's eyes didn't show some emotion other than joy.

"If you are more, then we are too!" he exclaimed and with only a hand movement, a strange aura enveloped Diabound.

Soon it wasn't only one, but there were three demons that intercepted the attacks confusing those present.

"Did it multiply—ghh?!" Isis exclaimed, falling to her knees when one of those Diabound destroyed her ka.

Shimon went to help her before a piece of wall fell on her.

Once again, the three Diabound attacked and, although they didn't destroy any of the other Ka's, they did cause great damage to their owners.

Manet almost fell to her knees before being held by Atem.

"W-What is this?" she asked, holding her chest tightly.

Atem looked at her with concern.

"Our ka are tied directly to our souls... to our ba," he explained, tightening his grip on her shoulders. "Manet, you should—"

"Again flirting?!" Bakura caught their attention by sending Diabound again.

But Seto and Karim got in the way.

"Karim!"

"Yes!"

The priest accepted Seto's silent order and raised the Millennium Scale, which shone brightly blinding everyone for a few seconds.

"Ka fusion?" Shimon exclaimed just for when Duos and Curse of Dragon joined in a single being matching the attack power of the Diabound.

And not only was that, on the head of the new summoned ka named Duos Dragon, Mahad jumped quickly to join the strange mix.

" Now!" ordered the High Priest to attack.

They managed to destroy the two copies, but the main body continued to be protected by the soul barrier.

Manet sent her ka again to help.

"They're matched in attack power," Shimon said in wonder, but soon his smile disappeared when Bakura started laughing again.

"Matched, you say?" Bakura answered raising the millennium item. "Don't make me laugh, old man!"

Although Diabound was already busy attacking Duos Dragon, somehow the demon managed to send another simultaneous attack on Manet and Atem.

"Watch out!" Isis exclaimed trying to get up under Shimon's astonished gaze.

But before anyone else could do something, someone's body intercepted the attack by stopping it just before it struck the couple.

"No!"

"Karim!"

The priest fell on his back releasing his Millennium item, which was quickly taken by one of the souls before Atem, or anyone else, came to his side.

Duos Dragon disappeared in particles leaving only Duos to receive Diabound's frontal attack. Seto was pushed back until he hit the unstable wall due to the force of the impact. His Millennium item was also taken.

"Seto!" Isis and Shimon came to his side to verify his health; however souls surrounded them, especially Isis, who owned the last millennium item.

Manet's ka as well as Mahad went to her aid, but Diabound struck them with another powerful attack.

"Tsk, I'm tired of seeing!" said Shimon, leading the way.

"No, don't!" but Atem stopped him. "The place is not big enough for you to summon Exodia."

"But my Pharaoh, the thief—!"

Shimon couldn't finish speaking.

"You won't need to do it!" Bakura shouted with a big grim smile. "After all, I—"

Something strange happened at that moment, even though Isis still kept her necklace, all the millennium items that Bakura held next to hers began to shine.

Both Mahad and Manet's Ka backed away when they saw a powerful aura begin to be emitted and Seto got up just in time to see the show.

Bakura's shadow spread over the surroundings and soon began to take a concrete form, but too enormous to fit inside where they were.

The walls and floor began to shake, the wind became heavy gathering around that new being and all the souls flew directly towards him, or rather... They were absorbed, including Diabound.

Bakura writhed in pain.

"W-What are you...?!" he tried to ask. "Zorc!"

Manet, Seto and Mahad reacted to that name.

"Zorc?"

But before anything else was said, the entity now called Zorc attacked Bakura piercing his chest with his claws under everyone's astonished gaze.

"Ghg!"

Blood spread across the floor and the walls, Atem had to go back so that he wasn't stained.

**"Our deal ends here, Bakura,"** Atem could identify that voice. **"I will take your revenge in my hands,"** he put the thief King's inert body aside and directed his eyes to the Pharaoh. **"I will kill the chosen Pharaoh." **

"I will not leave you!" Mahad objected in the middle.

Zorc didn't change his serious expression before moving his huge wings.

**"A fight is not necessary,"** he said, taking flight.

Several blocks of stone began to fall around them, remaining only centimeters away from crushing them.

"Is he escaping?" asked Manet confusedly avoiding a rock.

Atem denied, but it was Mahad who answered.

"No, he's going to town... to Thebes."

"Does he plan to destroy it?!" asked Shimon.

Seto clenched his fists.

"No," he said, remembering Manet's story. "He plans to rule it."

"Pharaoh, look!" Isis pointed toward a faint glow.

Everyone looked where she indicated.

Beside Bakura's body, the millennium items bathed in blood still glowed in the dark.

Both Mahad and Manet's ka rushed to pick them up and take them to Atem's hands.

Atem hung the Millennium Puzzle before hearing Shimon's shout of warning.

"Everyone, watch out!"

Looking up, they noticed a large block peeling off the roof. Mahad tried to stop him next to Manet's ka, but that only slowed down what was coming.

Atem looked for some escape route, but everything was blocked by the fallen stones, it had been a miracle in itself that they hadn't been crushed so far.

"Watch out, Atem!"

Faced with Manet's desperate scream, all he could do was look at her before a very powerful light left Manet's necklace.

The ka that helped Mahad disappeared, leaving him alone holding the piece of roof, but it didn't matter when, suddenly, a warm light took them all by surprise making them close their eyes by reaction.

When they realized, they were again at the top and no longer in that place formed by the explosion. The sun had been overshadowed by black clouds of smoke, making the night seem even closer.

Atem's eyes went to the hole in which they were no longer, the stones of the edges continued to be irretrievably detached while the so-called Zorc flew towards the center of Thebes: the palace.

Atem squeezed the millennium items in his hands and watched them.

What had started that problem?

How could he stop it?

He understood now.

* * *

Mana barely recovered from the surprise when she watched Atem approach Isis and lend a hand.

"I need you to give me your necklace," the priestess looked at him incomprehensively, but didn't object to the order. Once he had all the millennium items in his hands, he looked up at those present. "Everyone must stay here," he looked directly at Mana. "I'm serious this time."

Mana's eyes widened in realization when she understood what would happen. What Atem was about to do.

"Pharaoh!" called Seto, maybe intuiting something too.

But Atem silently denied.

"Only the millennium items can stop what they started," he said without returning his direct gaze. "This is something that cannot be repeated again."

"What will you do about it, Pharaoh?" asked Shimon. "You cannot—" the Royal advisor opened his eyes in realization. "You are not going to—!"

Atem nodded, interrupting his tutor, knowing that he wouldn't even be able to complete what he said.

In front of everyone's confused look, he said:

"I will seal all magic with a powerful spell... although I must give my life for it."

Mana was unable to interrupt him at the moment, perhaps because of the shock, but as soon as he turned to start walking. As soon as all heroic aura disappeared…

"Wait—!"

She extended her arm, but it had no place to go when everything around her stopped.

The warmth she felt instantly could only belong to a Goddess she knew very well.

**_«What do you plan to do, human?» _**

"I have to stop him, it's not fair..." she said without taking her eyes off Atem's back. "It's not fair..."

She didn't know when he had become so unreachable.

**_«Have you already forgotten what your purpose was to come here in the first place?»_**

Mana denied swallowing the lump in her throat.

"I don't care anymore, I don't care! I don't want him to die. He doesn't deserve it, it's not his fault... Zorc has a problem with you, Atem has nothing to do with it!" she incorporated strongly.

This time she did look at the cat-headed Goddess.

**_«It is true. Atem would have nothing to do with this, much less you.»_**

Mana trembled at the tone she used. Anger, helplessness, fear, sadness... She couldn't identify all the emotions that made her clench her hands so tightly into fists at that moment.

_**«But for something he is the chosen Pharaoh. You don't choose your destiny, human, we— No, destiny is already written for each one of you.»**_

"So you already knew this was going to happen? Did you make me come here to live all this?!" she asked, although she didn't know if she was really upset.

**_«Yes, and you already knew that too.»_**

She swallowed.

**_«Since your timeline, Zorc has been a problem, but now it will end. That was the destiny given to the human named Mana and the Nameless Pharaoh. There is nothing you can do.» _**

"I refuse!" shouted Mana. "I refuse to accept it! It's unfair and painful! Is—!" her voice trembled. "I can't even—Can't even say goodbye this time? Is fate so cruel that it won't let me do it?"

Bastet looked at her in silence for countless seconds and then time continued again.

"Atem!" she called without wasting any more time.

He stopped and she could reach him.

"Manet..."

"I don't know what you're going to do, but I refuse to let you do it!" she exclaimed, wrapping him in a hug too strong to let go.

She felt Atem rest his chin on her shoulder before returning the hug.

"I have to do it..."

"No, you don't! You do not—!" whatever she was going to say, it couldn't get out of her lips and, instead, only tears fell from her eyes to hug him tighter. "Please..."

Atem denied and slowly separated from her without actually releasing her just so he could look her in the eye.

Mana could see it. He wasn't happy to do what he would do, how could he be? But he still smiled with an immovable calm.

He took her from the cheeks.

"Manet, you... Your well-being and that of my priests, my people, all they are the reason why I do this," he said. "As long as you are well, so that everyone can live in peace and into the future... All that and many more are the reasons for doing this," he joined their foreheads.

Mana denied squeezing his hands.

"You told me we had all the time we wanted," she looked into his eyes no matter how fogged her vision was. "Do not make it a lie."

"I'm not doing it, don't you know the concept of the Afterlife?" he kissed her and Mana corresponded no matter how much time ran too much against them. "We will see each other again. I promise. I love you, Manet. I really love you."

She fell on her knees when Atem took a horse that, coincidentally, had returned with everything and saddle.

He's gone.

Mana couldn't help it.

**_«Was it enough?» _**

She nodded feeling unable to utter words while taking the necklace in her hands.

_Wasn't Manet supposed to disappear later?_

**_«I have already solved it.» _**

Beside her, with time stopped, the ka that supposedly belonged to her separated from her body. It was easy for her to take her appearance completely, although Mana didn't feel she was looking in a mirror.

That Manet was just a copy of her.

Then everything went black.

* * *

When she opened her eyes again, she wasn't in her bedroom, at least not in the one she remembered.

The ceiling was white as were the walls and almost everything around it. There were some machines around her and the bed was very small and uncomfortable.

"Mana!"

Her real name rang in her ears and she could only turn her eyes to the place it came.

Ishizu and Marik were there. Their cheeks were soaked in tears and Mana didn't understand why.

"You have been unconscious for more than a week," the doctor explained. "Although we never found a reason for your sleep."

_Sleep?_ Mana repeated_. It had all been a dream?_

She turned to the window of the room, she could see her reflection.

A circular ruby shone on her collarbone.

She did her best to smile, although more tears fell despite her weakness. Ishizu and Marik asked what was happening, but Mana couldn't answer.

It hadn't been a dream.

It was impossible that those feelings were.

She already missed him.

She missed him a lot.

_I want to see him..._

_Atem... _

Mana had never felt a promise so far away.


	27. EPILOGUE

**_Now this is really the end._**

**_I do not own YGO! DUEL MONSTERS._**

* * *

_Months later..._

The heat of the summer came along with the short vacations of it, although first was the first and Mana had to deliver a final project before being able to relax those two weeks.

The university was short of people, not everyone had assignments and works to catch up or, like Mana, courses still to be consolidated.

Once all she had to do in the evening light was finished, Mana headed towards the exit, observing herself for half a second in the reflection of one of the glass doors.

She smiled when she noticed the ruby glow and continued on her way.

"Hey, Mana!" she heard her friend's voice across the campus. He wore his usual clothes, but without the blue jacket.

Mana raised one arm to greet while with the other she held some papers.

"Yūgi? What are you doing here?" she asked when she reached his side.

The short boy shrugged.

"I went to look for you at your house, but Marik told me you were here," he said.

"Yes... Changing careers wasn't such a simple procedure, let's say," she rolled her eyes. "Especially for the courses, it's like I have to do everything again!"

"But at least it's something you really want to do," her friend said.

Mana smiled and nodded, returning her gaze to the front. Over the months, many things had happened after she woke up on that hospital bed.

The first thing was that, as she supposed, she had been missing for a while before she was found unconscious, a state in which she remained for more than a week, which caused her stepbrothers' concern as well as caught the attention of a lot of reporters.

After many interviews with the police and stating that she couldn't remember anything with exactitude continuous times, it was concluded that she had amnesia for the trauma or something similar, Mana really didn't care at all what kind of excuse she had if she could return to her normal life faster.

Although «normal» wasn't exactly how she would define it.

Many things remained the same as in their original timeline and many other things did not. The first on the list would be that Ishizu and Kaiba were already married for a while, the second that they were waiting for their first baby and the third that Marik and Serenity had a stable relationship since high school.

She turned her eyes to her friend.

Yūgi's grandfather had his game shop intact despite the years; however Mana hadn't heard anything about the Millennium Puzzle and had not asked about the item.

Yūgi himself remained the same. While he lacked in part the confidence that surprised Mana at first, she still preferred him that way.

And them...

She brought a hand to her necklace.

She had researched some things about Atem since she was able to leave her house alone again.

There were no records of his name or his face, the story had remained the same as she remembered —without official version of Manet, without magic, without Zorc, she wasn't happy with the result, but it felt good that everything went as she had planned from the beginning, at least a tiny part of her was happy to return with her family and friends.

But for the most part... Mana was still shattered and with a huge hole in her heart for Atem's lack in her life.

"Mana!"

"Huh?" she jumped at the sudden call of her friend. "What's going on?"

Yūgi scrutinized her.

"You spaced out, again," he said in a sigh. "Are you really good?"

_No_.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?!" she smiled forward a few steps before turning on her axis and facing Yūgi. "That reminds me, why were you looking for me?"

Yūgi blinked a few times before realizing that he had not yet explained where they were going or why.

"Oh, of course, I forgot," Mana laughed. "I want to introduce you to a couple of friends."

Mana raised both eyebrows.

"You?" she pointed out. "Introduce me to your friends? That is new! And tell me, is any of those friends a _girl_ friend?"

Yūgi blushed.

"Mana, i-it's not like you're my only female friend!"

"Expected reaction!" Mana jumped with her arms outstretched and laughing when she saw Yūgi grieving.

No doubt, she preferred this Yūgi.

After several seconds of teasing and a disguised coughing by Yūgi, they both continued on their way wherever they went.

Finally they arrived at a park a little away from the main avenue. There weren't many children despite the mechanical games, but it seemed to be relaxing enough.

"They should be close by now," Yūgi commented, putting his hands in his pants pockets. "We used to play together in this park before meeting you."

"Oh, did I break your friendship?" joked Mana.

Yūgi laughed and denied.

"Nah, they both moved," he replied. "I thought I was going to feel very lonely and everything, but then I met you."

"Looks like fate, huh..." she mentioned earning a strange look from Yūgi. She laughed. "It doesn't matter."

However Yūgi didn't respond when his gaze landed somewhere beyond Mana's shoulders.

Without bothering to give her an explanation, the boy ran away probably waiting for Mana to follow him.

Although she took a few seconds to notice that.

" Hey? Wait Yūgi!" she went the same way as him.

From one moment to another she found herself across the park breathing tiredly and without Yūgi in sight.

_Seriously, how can he run so fast with such short legs?_ She thought before continuing het search.

She finally found him crouched in the middle of a grassy area, under one of the trees. He turned his back, so Mana thought of surprising him.

She took him suddenly by the shoulder as she watched what he was doing.

"Seriously? Did you run so fast to give a stray dog something to eat?" she questioned in the middle of each air intake. Her heart was beating a thousand times so much exercise done after a considerable amount of time while Yūgi didn't seem to perspire. "You are unbelievable. Ah, in the sense of «I don't believe you», not in the «incredible» way," she clarified with a smile before turning her gaze to Yūgi.

Only those were not Yūgi's eyes.

"Excuse me?" asked the unknown Yūgi counterpart causing Mana to release him in surprise.

His voice was deeper and, when he got up, he was even taller than her.

The dog left the two alone at the end of the park.

Her lips trembled and unconsciously she brought a hand over her necklace.

_Can not be._

Her eyes fell on the object that hung from his neck. Golden and pyramidal, with one eye in the middle...

_Can not be._

But it wasn't until their eyes found each other's that he also reacted.

Emeralds and amethysts shared a long silent talk from soul to soul before the stranger held a hand over his pendant.

"Hm... Have we met before?" he asked.

Mana smiled. She really didn't want to cry suddenly.

"Maybe... in our past life."

"Well... That's unbelievable," he replied with little crafty smile.

Mana pressed her lips but didn't stop smiling.

"Do you _really _think so?" she wanted to know.

He shrugged, but he seemed to think seriously for a few seconds.

"I don't really know. I was just here waiting for my brother and his friend, and someone suddenly mistakes me for other person and tells me that we met in ancient Egypt. Put yourself in my shoes."

Mana giggled. She tried not to, but she did it anyway earning a confused look.

She had never mentioned ancient Egypt.

"So you're Yūgi's brother," she extended her hand. "I'm his friend. He ran away for no reason leaving me behind."

Yūgi's counterpart seemed confused for several seconds then he sighed and took her hand.

"Maybe he saw Téa. She told me that she wanted an ice cream. Anyway," he looked at her in the eye before letting her hand go. "I'm Yami Mutō."

"And I am Mana Ishtar."

"Mana..." he repeated as if he was testing her name. He didn't know why, but he was feeling kinda nostalgic. "Sorry, Ishtar-san."

"Yes, Mutō-kun?"

He shook his head and then smiled.

"You can call me Yami_,_" with his hand over the millennium puzzle, Yami thought that it was someone else who was saying those words. "Just Mana is okay?"

Mana smiled trying to keep her eyes from clouding.

She nodded.

"Yes. It is."

Without Mana knowing, Yami would keep for himself that he liked her name even if he wasn't aware of the reason.

"Then Mana... Does it sound good?" he wanted to know.

"Yeah... It sounds perfect, Yami," she said without waiting for an answer.

She had waited a long time for him to say her name. Her real name.

How could it not be right?

Everything was in order, everything was as good as it always should have been.

Even the promise so impossible to fulfill had come true.

As expected of the chosen Pharaoh

It was simply perfect.

And she hoped that Atem, deep down in Yami, would think the same way.

* * *

**_And... This epilogue is somehow different from the one I made originally, but, as I said before, I didn't really like that one son I'm more satisfied with this version. You can still read the original one in the Spanish version though._**

**_Thanks for the support and I hope you have enjoyed this fic! _**


End file.
